Nadal vs Djokovic match analysis

[lordlosh]

Lets have a serious discussion here(without trolls), on why Djokovic wins.

As pre-match his trainer Ivanisevic said on Eurosport, Djokovic has to be aggressive, even if that mean more UE.

This was one of the key elements on why Djoko won it. He was always in command, and he was the guy that giving the pace. He was leading the rallies, and it was up to him if he is going to win it or lose it.
His serve. While he didn't get much aces out of it, all of the Nadal return was very short.
Playing the right tactical match, with the right level of aggression. As some guys goes all the way to the throttle and they just make way too much UE, because they are going over the safety zone. Yeah you should be aggressive, but you should still play with a margin for an error.
And saying tactically, he totally abuse Nadal backhand. At one point Nadal BH deliver UE after UE, and he also managed to get Nadal forehand out of pace, because he very rarely played with it, and it became unsafe at certain point in the match.
He also made Nadal run and run, and run, and make him tired big time, and because of that Nadal shots loses speed, and they were an easy catch for Djoko, even Nadal forehand doesn't have the same punch after a while.

That's why i always said how much Nadal have gained by breaking the time rules with taken extra rest. He pretty much get out of jail on this one, cause you were unable to put pressure on him on his service game, as well to tired him enough to give you short balls, and to tired him in his own service game. Taken so much time between serve and staying fresh also help him big time with his high serve % usually.
Today even that didn't safe him against Joshua.
Tiring Nadal was a great thing, because it took all of his weapons out. He was serving great until the moment his energy starts to drop. He get out of jail in a lot of situation because of his serve, but after a while his serve was totally gone.

I can add a lot of things that i see, which helped Djokovic totally, but will wait for posts of you, and your opinion, cause don't want to make the post long and hard to read.

 

[RoS]

Great Post

Some overhyped players like Sinner should take note of HOW compete with Nadal.
Sinner is more powerful than Djokovic, has 15 years less than Nadal and still was bageled. He wanted to overpower Nadal which is a recipe to disaster. His FH always break down under pressure.
It show he is very far away to be the next big thing. Djokovic has 10X the IQ of Sinner.

 

[RoS]

Great Post

Some overhyped players like Sinner should take note of HOW compete with Nadal.
Sinner is more powerful than Djokovic, has 15 years less than Nadal and still was bageled. He wanted to overpower Nadal with predictable schemes which is a recipe to disaster. His FH always break down under pressure and he didn't try to trap the Nadal BH.
It show he is very far away to be the next big thing. Djokovic has 10X the IQ of Sinner.

 

[Atherton2003]

I think the fact this was a night match greatly benefitted Djokovic. The ball bounces higher during the day in the hot sun.....Additionally, Nadal seems like he had no "zip". He seemed "off". His serving was atrocious and all this put together added to his loss.

 

[SonicNirvana]

I think the fact this was a night match greatly benefitted Djokovic. The ball bounces higher during the day in the hot sun.....Additionally, Nadal seems like he had no "zip". He seemed "off". His serving was atrocious and all this put together added to his loss.

Djoko never really let hin get into a forehand groove though

 

[Atherton2003]

Yes, very true...all credit to Djokovic there. I felt Nadal was not very interested nor was he focussed...something I had never seen before. He was "off". The serve was atrocious and he appeared to give up in the 4th set altogether

 

[socallefty]

When Djokovic is in that zone where he is more aggressive than Nadal or Federer from the baseline while not hitting too flat and making a lot of unforced errors, he is unbeatable. Mostly, he plays with more safety margin to beat most opponents and once in a while, he gets too aggressive and makes too many errors when faced with someone playing great defense like Nadal. He usually hits his FH and BH harder than both of them in terms of shot speed when he is in top form - today they showed his FH was 5 mph faster than Nadal on average during the match and BH was a couple of mph higher. He also hit a lot of higher-trajectory heavy topspin BHs (high speed moonballs?) that you usually don’t see from him. And of course these days he is serving like a boss.

I think Nadal served to the BH too much on second serves and paid the price being broken many times. Djokovic served bigger and with more variety when it mattered. At the end, he was able to preserve some energy by hitting some service winners and having some easy service games while Nadal had to fight from the baseline on every point which sapped his energy.

When Novak finds the right balance of aggression and consistency, he looks like the BOAT. This is the Djokovic I saw at Indian Wells against Federer and Nadal in 2015-2016 - vintage form.

 

[mr tonyz]

Night conditions helped Djoker play the way he did as well as neutering Nadal's weaponry.

Was this the main reason as to why Djoker lost the first set & won the next 3? From watching on my pc the light hung around until around 9:15-ish? But in terms of the coolness of the conditions these could have occurred an hour or so earlier??

 

[Frankc]

Great post - I look forward to more analysis of this very interesting match... Novak's backhand was so aggressive and solid - that took away Rafa's usual well that he loves to exploit. Many great points so far... And those short angle forehands that took Rafa out of court and to the backhand were brutal in the long term - body blows. Great point OP with the "taking his time" that usually gives Rafa extra breathing room...

 

[Ruark]

Playing the right tactical match, with the right level of aggression. As some guys goes all the way to the throttle and they just make way too much UE, because they are going over the safety zone. Yeah you should be aggressive, but you should still play with a margin for an error.

I tend to agree; Djoker seems to always know where the edge of the cliff is.

 

[RunDatGame]

I saw this match as a really close one. Until that final set of course. I felt like a couple of important points in a 3rd set really decided at the end.
The thing is, Djokovic played at his highest level for most of the match. He was so in a zone I couldn't believe he was playing that good that long - and they were almost equal, for 3 hrs and 30 minutes in the match.
That shows how tough and great Nadal is on RG. He is ridiculously good there, honestly. So I find funny this comments/threads about him after the match, like he is done etc.. He wins this RG easily if Novak didn't play like he did.

Anyways, I agree with OP about match analysis. Novak had a suberb game plan and executed it masterfully.. He was physically better in the end also.