by Andrew Eichenholz
Heading into the French Open, Rafael Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam titles, nine of which came on the terre battue of Roland Garros. No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic is hot on his heels, holding eight majors himself, seven of which have come since 2007. There is no doubting that those 22 combined victories have played a major role in portraying the two stars as a couple of the best to ever pick up a racket.
“In sports, championships often define a person’s legacy,” journalist Don Yaeger once said. He was right.
Yet, tomorrow, the best player in the world will look for his first win on the Parisian clay against the king of the red dirt himself.
A quarterfinal, for possibly the first time in tour history, may be the most anticipated match in a tournament. The tennis magnifying glass has been placed squarely over the heads of two men looking to continue their French Open runs.
Deciding who the favorite is between Djokovic and Nadal is not an easy task, and for too many reasons to count, it looks on the outside as if there is no possible matchup as evenly split that could possibly be made at the tournament.
Nadal has won 23 of the duo’s matches to Djokovic’s 20. Novak has taken home five of the last six contests between the two, while the Mallorcan has won the last four Grand Slam marathons.
There is no obvious way to distinguish the Serbian from the Spaniard, the king of the world from the king of clay. Wednesday will produce a battle of strength against strength, will against will, and the winner will emerge as the heavy favorite to take home the second Grand Slam crown of the still-young season.
************************************************************************************
Keys to the Match
– Strength vs. Strength
There is not a more solid player in the world than the Serbian superstar, with an overall baseline game that arguably rivals some of the best of all-time. His serve is no John Isner delivery, his feel at the net not quite as touchy-feely as Federer’s, but purely based on groundstrokes, nobody is better. What bothers so many players on tour about playing Nadal is the spin that helps his ball jump off and in many instances away from his opponents. There is nobody on tour who can get the ball to jump as high, taking nearly everyone out of their comfort zone. That “nearly,” is because of Djokovic. With a two-handed backhand rivaling that of Andre Agassi’s for the best the sport has ever seen, there is no weak slice reply that Nadal gets so many times against most of the tour. Instead, a punishing cross court bomb explodes back the other way, opening up Nadal’s weaker side— the backhand. It can be said that the Spaniard’s forehand is the best shot in the rivalry, if not in the entire game today. The key will be whether or not he can hit it deep enough in the court. If Novak has an opportunity to step in and punish those backhands, he will do so. The topspin is not so much of an issue if the world No. 1 has angles to work with or room to step into because of the lack of depth on the shot. However, if Nadal forces his opponent into near half volleys at the baseline, it will be nearly impossible to hit out on the ball, therefore allowing the Spaniard to take it down the line, putting him on the offensive and opening up the court. Both shots are tremendous, but surprisingly enough, they will look to go to each other strengths to gain a much-needed advantage.
– Nadal’s Serve
Arguably the weakest shot that either man will see is Nadal’s serve, particularly his second delivery. A few years back, the Spaniard made an effort to beef up his point-opener, which he did successfully. However, the pace has not quite been the same recently, reverting more so to the slice. Now, Djokovic is the best returner in the sport, with unreal hand-eye coordination to always manage finding the center of his string bed no matter the speed of the serve coming his way. But, which will earn Nadal more free points? While the slice may drag Djokovic off the court, he is too good off of the return, and will find any and every angle, if not simply put the ball right at the nine-time champ’s feet. Nadal will have to go big to win as many points off the shot as he can, otherwise, holding serve may be somewhat of a chore.
– Getting off to a fast start
Not that it is not a key in every match played between any two people, but more often than not, whoever gets out of the date quickest between Djokovic and Nadal typically wins. Out of the 43 matches they have played, the winner has taken the first set 36 times. In other words, whoever captures the first set ends up advancing 84 percent of the time, a massive statistic. Now, that is not to say whoever does get off to that quick start will definitely win—Nadal won the French Open last year after going a set down, but, it will be a major step in the right direction.
