2014 Miami Final: Nadal vs. Djokovic

[Kieran]

One aspect of Nole I liked today; his net game. Should we nibble some of our words against Becker?

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

OH yes the tennis..v good from djokovic, mentally strong/ not too defensive with the big points..came to the net a bit too. rafa was a bit below his 2013 era form..

...but the clay is on the way.

 

[Front242]

One aspect of Nole I liked today; his net game. Should we nibble some of our words against Becker?

He wasn't even there today so maybe that's why it was good

 

[Riotbeard]

One aspect of Nole I liked today; his net game. Should we nibble some of our words against Becker?

He wasn't even there today so maybe that's why it was good

The optimist in me wants to believe it was Becker's phone calls.

 

[Front242]

One aspect of Nole I liked today; his net game. Should we nibble some of our words against Becker?

He wasn't even there today so maybe that's why it was good

The optimist in me wants to believe it was Becker's phone calls.

Those phone calls were likely at 3am about how he managed to put vodka into the IV during his hip recovery at the hospital and then got jiggy with a room full of busty nurses :snigger

 

[calitennis127]

This was a statement win from Nole, I think. After AO, his confidence was questioned. He won IW with his second best tennis. Today, he brought the A game and said to everyone else "Watch out, I m back"

That was the best I've seen from him in some time... bh dtl consistently a part of his rallies, great depth, a willingness to go after Rafa's forehand. He did these things in Madrid and Rome in 2011 too. Hopefully again.

Yeah, but this win should have been much easier. Nadal is largely shot-challenged aside from his very good inside-out forehand. From the baseline, Djokovic is just a better player with a higher ceiling of potential, and he is a far better returner than Nadal. Still, Nadal makes these matches drag out and be far closer than they should be. This should have been a 6-3, 6-1 or 6-3, 6-0 victory for Djokovic and it wasn't.

I would be very happy about this match if it were not for Djokovic's brain cramp at 1-3, 30-40 in the second set when he went up the middle with the forehand and gave Nadal a chance to hit one of his only winners of the match. That point really soured the taste in my mouth. Djokovic set up the point very well and hit a great forehand down the line (which is 95% guaranteed to produce great results against Nadal), and he had an easy put-away forehand cross-court, but like Federer at 0-40, 5-2 up in the first set of the 2010 French, he opted for a stupid shot that gave the gnat a chance to do what gnats love to do: hang around and pester some more.

But still, it finished up as a straight-sets victory: 6-3, 6-3.

 

[calitennis127]

Great afternoon it was today.....UConn defeated that BS Michigan State team, and Djokovic defeated tennis's king of BS - Nadal. Now all we need to cap off the day properly is Kentucky ousting Michigan!

 

[nehmeth]

One aspect of Nole I liked today; his net game. Should we nibble some of our words against Becker?

He wasn't even there today so maybe that's why it was good

The optimist in me wants to believe it was Becker's phone calls.

Those phone calls were likely at 3am about how he managed to put vodka into the IV during his hip recovery at the hospital and then got jiggy with a room full of busty nurses :snigger

And thankfully injured the other hip and will be out until October 2014.

 

[Denis]

Can't wait for pavlik's post :

 

[Mog]

Congrates to Nole. He played very well. I liked the way he played today.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Rafa first service % is 70 or 71. & djoker is 69 % for the tournament,what is BS talking about

BS is talking about first serve percentage alone not being the only indicator. Just because you're putting serves in play doesn't mean you're serving well. If a player is serving at 85%, chances are he's spinning serves in.

For Nadal, 71% is a healthy percentage, but stats alone can be misleading. If you actually watch his matches so far this tournament, he hasn't been doing much with his serve as far as getting cheap points goes.

I'll gladly rather he serves at 68% against Novak at a bigger pace and get more cheap points. Djokovic is serving at only 2% less, but is having more aces and winning more free points. That means Djokovic is serving better.

More importantly, in the context of this particular match-up, it is more important for Nadal to serve very well than it is for Djokovic.

your point was well understood unfortunately at Rafa expense today

 

[Kieran]

Rafa's return wasn't too hot, either. After the first few games, he was woefully behind the pace. I think since Flushing Meadows, he's lacked intensity, bar the odd match here or there. Well, the battle has been joined and he needs to respond. Fortunately, he's quite good at that sort of thing...

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

This was a statement win from Nole, I think. After AO, his confidence was questioned. He won IW with his second best tennis. Today, he brought the A game and said to everyone else "Watch out, I m back"

That was the best I've seen from him in some time... bh dtl consistently a part of his rallies, great depth, a willingness to go after Rafa's forehand. He did these things in Madrid and Rome in 2011 too. Hopefully again.

Yeah, but this win should have been much easier. Nadal is largely shot-challenged aside from his very good inside-out forehand. From the baseline, Djokovic is just a better player with a higher ceiling of potential, and he is a far better returner than Nadal. Still, Nadal makes these matches drag out and be far closer than they should be. This should have been a 6-3, 6-1 or 6-3, 6-0 victory for Djokovic and it wasn't.

I would be very happy about this match if it were not for Djokovic's brain cramp at 1-3, 30-40 in the second set when he went up the middle with the forehand and gave Nadal a chance to hit one of his only winners of the match. That point really soured the taste in my mouth. Djokovic set up the point very well and hit a great forehand down the line (which is 95% guaranteed to produce great results against Nadal), and he had an easy put-away forehand cross-court, but like Federer at 0-40, 5-2 up in the first set of the 2010 French, he opted for a stupid shot that gave the gnat a chance to do what gnats love to do: hang around and pester some more.

But still, it finished up as a straight-sets victory: 6-3, 6-3.

Cali, that forehand that you are talking about was an attempt at Nole's part to be unpredictable...maybe wrong foot Rafa. Did not work. Rafa did not move. It happens. Just one bad shot selection among many great ones. Don't worry about it.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Rafa's return wasn't too hot, either. After the first few games, he was woefully behind the pace. I think since Flushing Meadows, he's lacked intensity, bar the odd match here or there. Well, the battle has been joined and he needs to respond. Fortunately, he's quite good at that sort of thing...

I said this before the Rio final (after that struggle with Andujar) and before the Dolgopolov loss (back when we were still discussing a potential Rafa vs. Wawrinka at IW): Nadal's level hasn't been that impressive this season. His game has yet to fully click. He's played a few good matches here and there, but nothing too impressive.

 

[brokenshoelace]

This result was predictable. Novak is just flat out better on hards and Nadal needs a REALLY good performance to stand a chance of winning on this surface.

 

[Mastoor]

Commiseration to my mate Kieran. I figure if you are not happy to accept congratulations you must be happy with commiserations.

Of course congratulations to Nole and my fellow Nole fans.

Wasn't that yet another perfect squishing of Nadal. Vamos-tamos is back, just in time for the clay court season.

 

[imjimmy]

Excellent performance by Djokovic today. The way he played only a A+ Murray or Federer might have been able to challenge him. Everything clicked for Novak. It was amazing how he was able to open up Nadal on the forehand side by definitive offense. Sort of reminds me of the 2011 Rome Djokovic (one of his best matches against Rafa IMO).

For the Spaniard, it's back to the drawing board unfortunately. He's now lost 3 straight against Novak, and not even broken him in the last 2 matches. Rafa's not serving or returning well this year. These are not even at 2011/2012 level - forget about the 2010/2013. He really needs to up the tempo on the serving and be more aggressive. The off-forehand has to fire more. He needs cheap points set up with a bigger serve or a more aggressive ROS.

Let's see how Nadal responds. It won't be very easy to recover quickly from the last few matches. This very well could be the year, where Novak finally gets the elusive RG and the king of clay gets to the descendancy on that surface.

 

[Denis]

Commiseration to my mate Kieran. I figure if you are not happy to accept congratulations you must be happy with commiserations.

Of course congratulations to Nole and my fellow Nole fans.

Wasn't that yet another perfect squishing of Nadal. Vamos-tamos is back, just in time for the clay court season.

Hey Mastoor, good to see you! Congrats on the win! Promising signs for the clay court campaign.

 

[Mastoor]

Rafa's return wasn't too hot, either. After the first few games, he was woefully behind the pace. I think since Flushing Meadows, he's lacked intensity, bar the odd match here or there. Well, the battle has been joined and he needs to respond. Fortunately, he's quite good at that sort of thing...

He actually said in the interview that Nole was better everywhere. Then someone asked him, ok you love challenges, are you happy that Nole exists and he replied "No, I love challenges, but I am not stupid". :laydownlaughing

 

[Mastoor]

Commiseration to my mate Kieran. I figure if you are not happy to accept congratulations you must be happy with commiserations.

Of course congratulations to Nole and my fellow Nole fans.

Wasn't that yet another perfect squishing of Nadal. Vamos-tamos is back, just in time for the clay court season.

Hey Mastoor, good to see you! Congrats on the win! Promising signs for the clay court campaign.

Yes, and I hope the return of Boris the terrible won't spoil Vajda's good work. Did you see how Vajda managed to fix Nole in just 3 weeks?