i am hearing from his inside camp that his neck and shoulder was very very stiff and novak had restricted movement in the neck this am. and the Cold temp this am also make it worse. Thus the results you saw today. Novak is such a gentleman that he didn't want to bring it up and rain on RAFA parade
Sad that you were not equally nice.
Rafa was playing amazing, novak played like wimbledon 2019 final waiting for opportunities but nadal never ket him like federer who choked on big points even he should have won that in 4, even thiem could have done it in 5, djokovic post Ao19 has flattered to decieve so this was coming
Yeah, this wasn‘t a close match at all. Maybe if Novak had won the third set he could have turned it a bit around (Even in that scenario I think Novak loses) but in the end it was quite the beatdown
but that's alot for him though. he clears the net by like 8 feet all the time. only time he misses is usually wide if that. Also Novak looked slower than he did all last 2 weeks.
Indeed, when you are outplayed by Rafa in the final on clay you will look slow, sluggish and even bad. Just ask Fed - he knows
Definitely. In the end, these conditions I think made the mismatch on clay even worse for Djokovic. No free points off the serve and slower conditions (easier retrieval for Rafa) meant Djokovic was badly outgunned in what was ultimately a baseline battle. Rafa won easy with his FH to Djokovic's backhand and the other way around too.
Yes, Rafa played amazing, as I wrote
He looked unusually slow, and his Eyes looked like it was half sleepy.. you never see that from novak. and No yelling after he went down 1st set badly. Usually he goes crazy RAGE if he's about to fight back
Djokovic wasn't outgunned so much as he was just outplayed and his strategy was terrible compared to Nadal's. He had 7 more winners than Nadal today but a lot more errors, meaning he tried to control and dictate and imploded in the process.
His errors came because he went for too much, because he realized Nadal was just beating him.
Well yea but that's not outgunned. Outgunned is when you just get blown off the court with power and winners.
Just plain semantics. He was outgunned from the baseline, he was badly outplayed from the baseline, etc.
Ok fair enough.
Agree - I think half the reason why is because he woke up today not believing he could beat him. Maybe he was mentally tired after his battle with tsitsipas, even though he said he felt good.
Have to agree with this. Some of the errors Djokovic made today would've never occurred against any other player but he knew he needed to hit as deep as possible otherwise Nadal would be all over him like a rash. It was a bit frustrating but I could understand why he was going for so much.
Agree, Novak is very very respectful of RAFA. so much so that he won't talk about his injuries. he should be the next president of ATP and USTA
He had Nadal a little uneasy at 4-5 but he couldn't stop making errors and capitalize. It was the perfect time to break and take the set. At least he could have made Rafa start to think more and unsettle him a bit, and maybe it would have become more of a match.
Hope it doesn't bother you too much. Novak had an off day, it happens and it was unfortunate for him it had to happen in an RG final against Rafa who had clearly upped his level knowing he would have to in order to beat Novak.
Not gonna lie Mainad, it bothers me a little
but at the end of the day it is what it is and there's more important things in life to worry about. 
and the Rafa creamed him in three sets.
and your brain Im sure.
Nope, Novak tried to avoid to hit backhand down the line because of the pain, especialy over shoulder hight, the same with the serve. You will see the difference when Novak is healty. I watched 98% of Novak matches from 2006 mostly on BBC, SKY SPORT,EUROSPORT. Plus i live in a district where Novak has his academy and i seen him train gazilion times over the years. Rafa level was high but he played injured opponent.
He didn’t make RG final in 3 last years so he is not that good on clay. And he hit many dtl backhands today so you argument is invalid. Go watch Novak in Ruud open!
He played this way through the middle portions of 2017 against everyone after the Chung match at the AO. That was his Pepe period and he was woeful. Thiem pretty much destroyed him at RG that year 7-6, 6-3, 6-0.
