He said he will keep fighting for the #1 spot as long as there is a chance he can end the year in the top spot, but he must know it is all but a done deal that Nadal will end the year ranked #1. After Djokovic owned Nadal for a stretch Nadal has come back after his 7 month breaks and turned it around against Djokovic, starting with that pivotal French Open match. The US Open final must have really hurt Djokovic as well so it's nice to see him looking so good in his first match back.
He must know he will lose the #1 ranking and probably doesn't feel that much pressure to win Beijing.
He can just go out there and play his best at one of his favorite events, because Nadal has already overshadowed him this year. But if him and Nadal face off in the final and he wins it will still be an important moral victory. He's gotta try and stay in touch with Nadal despite the tough losses to him recently, and there isn't a better place than Beijing for him to do so.
Nadal played today as well and won 6-2, 6-4 against Giraldo. If anyone looked like they had a hangover it was Nadal, because he dropped serve when serving for the match. So judging from today's action Djokovic definitely looks like a better bet for the title between the two. Of course Nadal only has to make the final to overtake Djokovic in the rankings, but like I said it would still be an important moral victory for Djokvic if he could win the event by beating Nadal in the final.
It does look like Nadal currently has the measure of Djokovic, but Djokovic has to find a way to beat Nadal again. Djokovic will want to get his slam count up high as well, but Nadal will stand in his way if he doesn't find a solution. He should know by now that he underestimated Nadal's ability to find a solution against him and he must now do the same to Nadal. He is clearly talented enough to beat Nadal and win many more slams, but he needs to work on his ability to finish points.
To be more specific he needs to work on his net game. His overheads are a joke for a player of his caliber and he must work on his transition game as well. He is giving Nadal too many chances to stay in the point when he should have been at the net finishing the point. So I think that is definitely something he can work at. I hope he is up for it because I enjoy this rivalry and I don't want it to become one-sided. It also keeps tennis interesting if the rivalry stays competitive.
Yesterday there was an interesting match between Haas and Hewitt in Beijing which Hewitt won 7-6(6), 6-3, after Haas was up 6-3 in the first set breaker. It is very surprising that this was the first meeting between the two in 9 years and Haas has a history of letting Hewitt off the hook in their matches, so I guess they just started where they left off 9 years ago. Hewitt keeps his good form from the US Open going with this win and now faces Fognini which will be interesting as well.
Kohlschreiber scraped through in a 3rd set breaker against Montanes and now faces Nadal. Kohlschreiber was the only player other than Djokovic who took a set off Nadal in New York and could test Nadal here. Another good one to look forward to. Other than that Stan lost the first set against Seppi and came back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Good fightback and will face Querrey for a place in the quarters. In Tokyo #1 seed Del Potro started slowly but prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Baggy.
The 7th seed Anderson was upset 6-4, 7-6(2) by Lacko while 2nd seed Tsonga was back with a 6-3, 7-6(8) win over his countryman and friend Monfils. My picks for the best matches of tomorrow then is Hewitt vs Fognini and Nadal vs Kohlschreiber. Talk to you guys later.
The single most interesting thing in tennis for me these days is something that you hinted at here, the great players find a way to figure out their rivals and solve the problems they present. I never gave Nadal credit for being such an excellent chess player until this rampage he's been on after 7 months away. He may not have played much tennis in his time off, but he clearly did a lot of great strategizing w Uncle Tony. I hate to admit it, really HATE to admit it, but Nadal is just brilliant at this. He crushed Federer with the relentless high backhands and now he has turned Djoker's greatest weapon, the deadly cross court forehand, into a weakness, by cutting it off early and ripping it down the line into the empty court. It's brilliant, but in a James Bond evil villain kind of way.
ReplyDeleteRight Eric, Nadal is indeed a brilliant strategist, with the help of uncle Toni of course. It's hard to believe he didn't play tennis in his time off though. He said he didn't touch a racquet but he is either lying or something else is going on. How do you not touch a racquet for 7 months and come back to dominate the tennis world? Either way he does deserve a lot of credit for it. It's been an unbelievable comeback.
DeleteFederer could never figure Nadal out but at least he got some key wins. I have never seen anyone 'figure Nadal out', aside from Davydenko perhaps. When he loses to a play a few times he always comes back to crush them. So this is a big challenge for Djokovic. At the moment he is in danger of Nadal starting to own him, so he first of all has to avoid that. Beating him in Beijing is a good opportunity to do that as I said. But he needs to find a way to beat Nadal on a consistent basis again, or Nadal will keep beating him at slams. If Djokovic wants to have a GOAT claim himself and win many more slams he will need to figure out a way to get back on top of Nadal. And I have already said what he can do to achieve that. He needs to improve his transition and net game like Nadal was able to take the ball earlier and be more aggressive. That is the difference between great and really great. The really great ones can keep adapting. They know the game and their opponents keep evolving and they know they can't rest of their laurels and stand still. Nadal has been able to do that probably better than anyone. I hope for the sake of excitement Djokovic can do the same. Great comment from you again. You touched on something very important.