The 53rd installment of the Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal rivalry was supposed to be another instant classic.
Djokovic had other ideas.
Producing a master-class performance in a second consecutive match, the world No. 1 destroyed Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in just two hours and four minutes to capture a record seventh Australian Open title on Sunday night. Two days after committing a mere five unforced errors throughout a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 semifinal destruction of Lucas Pouille, Djokovic made only nine errors in the final.
The top-seeded Serb pounced on Nadal right away, breaking serve in the second game and holding his first four service games at love. He lost a grand total of one service point in the entire first set.
Things never got much better for Nadal, who finished with 28 unforced errors also also struck far fewer winners than his red-hot opponent (21 to 34). The second-ranked Spaniard, who was bidding for his second Aussie title 10 years after his first, earned only one break-point chance and failed to convert it at 3-2 in the third set.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjuq9GDYNl4
Full trophy ceremony:
“It ranks right at the top,” Djokovic said when asked where this ranks in his Grand Slam final performances–15 of which have resulted in victories. “Under the circumstances, playing against Nadal, such an important match, yeah–it’s amazing. Obviously back-to-back semifinals and finals, I think I made 15 (really 14) unforced errors in total in two matches; it’s quite pleasantly surprising to myself, as well, even though I always believe I can play this way (and) visualize myself playing this way. At this level, as I said, under the circumstances, it was truly a perfect match.”
“I think, of course, he played I think fantastic,” Nadal praised. “At the same time is true that when he’s playing that way, I think I needed something else. I was not able to have that extra thing tonight, being honest, no. Yeah, was unbelievable the way that he played, no doubt about that.
“The real thing is he played so well. He did a lot of things very difficult unbelievable well. He hit so long. His return was fantastic. He was super quick.”
He was, in short, unbeatable. The real thing, too, is that Nadal was not at his best; Djokovic made sure the Spaniard couldn’t be. But not even Nadal’s best–not anyone’s best–could have competed with Djokovic on this night. He was simply too good.
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welp
Djoko’s serve and returns were unbelievable!
This match by Djoko was something like Rafa’s vs Stan at FO2017 final, and Fed vs Murray’s Wimbledon 2015 SF. The opponents simply had no answers.
I think we’ve had this conversation before , that when Rafa is getting outplayed , its such a surprise to him that often has this mental block . Maybe he then reverts to his counterpunching game, which is when he’s had most success when getting outplayed .
Or maybe its simply against Djokovic that he has this trouble.In 2011, he got comprehensively outplayed even on clay.Must have been a shock .
Im disappointed it wasn’t a closer match ,I do feel for the Nadal fans, happy for Djokovic though .
Fed can sleep easier for a while…
I’m not sure Fed can, because this Djoko seems unstoppable; he may have a clean sweep this year, if not maybe wins the other two non clay slams and inches closer to Fed’s tally.
As I said sometimes last year after Wimbledon, Djoko may become the ultimate Goat, and Rafa remains the Goat on clay. Fed has to be contented to be the Goat on grass.
As a Nadal fan, I am not a happy camper. But hey! There are three more Slams to be won this season and Nadal should win at least two of them, providing he stays fit.
RAFA ROCKS
I hope so, the channel slams will be nice. Djoko may win the USO again, now that it’s slower and the roof structure blocks out the wind. Djoko may well get more than eleven HC slams, more than what Fed has. If that happens, he’s truly the HC king.
Interesting. The clay GOAT prefers a faster surface than the HC one.
Big Al, Rafa said that himself! Slower HC means he has to grind and that’s not good for his body – HC different from clay surface. On slower HC, he couldn’t hit through the court. His results are better on quicker HCs than slower ones, believe it or not.
He only won four IWs, one AO on slower HCs, but won two at Montreal where the courts were quicker than at Toronto, one Cincy, three USOs and one Madrid indoors. He also won 500 events at Dubai, Tokyo and Beijing on quicker courts.
He’s 3-4 vs Djoko at Canada/Cincy/USO but he’s a lot worse at 1-8 vs Djoko at AO/IW/Miami!
IW suits Nadal,it’s slow but high bouncing.Its the bounce more than the speed
The desert air means the ball flies through the air and that helps his opponents who play agresive like Madrid which isn’t Nadals best .
Yeah and Rafa still won three IWs there despite the desert air made the ball quicker. Madrid is not the traditional clay court and Rafa still won there five times (one on indoor HC), more than anyone else.
Djoko better on slower HCs, can’t argue with six AOs on slower HCs (2019 should be on quick HC); five IWs and six Miami.
He has four at Canada (actually two at Toronto which wasn’t a quick court), one Cincy, four Shanghai and three USOs. The Paris and WTF indoors are not quick courts these days.
Djoko is better on slower HCs than quicker ones, but he’s simply so good on the HCs that he can win anywhere, and that’s why I say he’s the Goat on HCs.
Novak was truly flawless.
My condolences to all Rafans, don’t worry Rafa will get back up.
Not quite sure what happened to Rafa. Novak had an answer for everything and I quit watching midway through the 2nd set. But it was 4:00 in the morning and it wasn’t going to be a “classic.”
The match between Naomi and Petra was better.
Congrats to Novak, he played awesome!
Yeah Naomi vs Petra was better.
So happy for Naomi would have been also happy if Petra Kvitova had won.
Both ladies have good characters.
I agree, both ladies seem to have good characters and I also would have been happy if Petra had won. Was pulling for Naomi though!
lol this was a heavy heavy beat-down. luckily for the dirtballer a clay court season is around so he’ll recover with some wins on the surface no one is carrying about. a big shout out to Cheryl – a tennis roof expert haha.
Really bummed about the loss to Rafa. I hope he can regroup and come back strong for the rest of the season and hopefully faces as less of Djokovic as possible.
As for Djokovic, there has been very little mentioned about his monster last nine six months. 3 back to back slams is mind boggling in the best of times but coming back from injury and surgery, capturing the slams beating opponents in straight sets in the finals is other worldly. And he completed his career masters slam too. And only can gain points till wimbledon. I hope Rafa does not face him in the sunshine masters stretch to avoid more mental trauma before the clay season.
Kudos to Djokovic but Vamos Rafa no matter what. Except for the finals performance, the other six rounds were a joy to watch
I wonder if Moyá will add anything new to the mix. Rafa is going to meet Novak more often than not in finals, he’s got to come up with something better…. No?
Maybe add in a better BHDTL, improves the second serve, improves the ROS, improves his court positioning esp after returning serves, flattens the CC FH a little? Heck, looks like there’s a one whole list of things he can improve on!
Well it was a disappointing final yes n nind of us expected this beatdown n it happened again when double careee slam was at stake. Rafa is really jinxed At AO…4 finals loss and 1 win…
Anyways given he barely played last 4 months…none of us expected him to do anything at AO…he reaches the final..picks up 840 points…gives us reasons to feel happy…so I would rate it as positive…as he says he had no time to get prepared n he needs time n more work n more matches ..so I’m sure he will do the work…but Novak is a puzzle whose solution he has to find out n even fed is an issue now…right now it’s looking all Novak but things change in tennis pretty fast…it looked all rafa aftee 2009 ao n even after 2010 uso but we know what happened…it looked all Novak after 2012 ao and 2016 fo but we know what happened..lets wait and see what the next 4 months bring…however rafa has to beat Novak before french else if they meet at RG it will be advantage Novak..
Jeez can some of you put things in context please! Ricky predicted rafa would lose to de minaur in the third round! He exceeded expectations but he simply wasn’t ready to play a fired up Nole in a slam final!
Stop talking as if he doesn’t know how to beat him once he gets match play and practice!
Tennis is a mental game amy. He needs to beat him once before the French..I stand by it..Remember 2012..after he suffered 7 straight losses..Rafa beat him in MC and Rome, hence beat him in RG..He needs a win under his belt to go full hog at RG and he needs to protect his no 2 so that he can meet Novak only in final
Never mind Sanju, clay is different from HC. Rafa knows how to win on clay; Djoko while he’s good on clay, he’s not unbeatable, his flat shots won’t work so well on clay.
The important thing for Rafa is not to get injured; as long as he’s fit, he will be able to move fast and freely esp on clay and so can get to most if not all the balls.
Rafa needs match plays to build his confidence. Rafa said Djoko was very quick, and I feel Djoko moves so well because he’s injury free and has not stopped playing and training since winning at Wimbledon.
Djoko has won or reached the final at Queens, Wimbledon, Cincy, USO, Shanghai, Paris, WTF and now AO; with only blips at Toronto and Doha in between. He has the momentum with him that seems no one can stop at the moment.
Rafa has to build his own momentum and be ready for the clay season; if he has a great clay season, then perhaps thereafter he may continue with the winning momentum, we’ll see. The most important thing is that Rafa remains injury free.
My post wasn’t actually in response to yours Sanju although for some reason it ended up there! I agree with you 100% that tennis is a mental game!☺
Hats off to Joker…just too good…but Fed will be back!
Amy you hit the nail on the head hun ….
The weather played a part .
I am sorry to the ride-or-die Rafans. Although I believed all along that Novak would have the edge if they met, I still held out hope that Rafa would pull it out and get that 2nd AO title that he would absolutely deserve if he ever gets it. Personally, I still believe that Rafa will end his career with double career slam. I just think that he has played too well at AO in recent years to not get over the line. It may take someone else taking out Novak for it to happen, but it I believe it will happen one way or the other.
Quite honestly, my favorite scenario for the Big 3 would be for each of them to end their careers with 20 majors total. I understand that the respective die-hard fan bases of each guy would prefer for their guy to be considered the definitive GOAT. For me, though, I just feel like each of them have been so unfathomably great for so long, and have brought so much to the game, that it would only be fair and right to have it be a 3-way pick-your-poison type thing.
Realistically, though, the only way I can see Rafa NOT getting passed 20 slams is if Novak somehow manages to be so unfathomably dominant for the next 3 years that he prevents Rafa from winning 4 more. However, any time over the last decade or so that it felt like one of these guys was just going to start running away with everything and never lose again, they have always temporarily fallen from their dominance. So there really is no way to be sure that either Novak or Rafa will take over and win everything. Novak is looking like he is capable of it, but who knows…
As for Fed, I see him being nothing more than a dark horse at this year’s Wimbledon and maybe next year’s AO. But there’s just no way you can view a guy pushing 38 as any more than a dark horse, it’s just the way it is. I can understand the young guys still not having a realistic shot over Novak and Rafa, as they are only in their early 30’s at least. But there is just no excuse anymore for the really solid, hungry younger guys to be losing to a 38 year old. I don’t care that Fed is one of the 3 greatest ever- “Father Time” is undeniably intervening now, and these younger guys need to be taking advantage of that. Once Rafa and Novak enter their mid-to-late 30’s, the younger guys should take advantage of them, too.
I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s possible that all this time, the younger guys actually have been really good, and the Big 3 really were THAT much better than them. I think we’ve always assumed that because all the all-time greats were winning majors at a young age, then that must mean that all the post-Big3 generations were all just pathetically bad players with no will to win. Who knows, maybe they really are worse than previous generations’ young guns? I really wonder, though, if it’s somehow possible that we have, dare I say, UNDERrated the Big 3’s level of invincibility in recent years? I really wonder about this…
Rafa was asked this quesstion many times. He never says it out directly but you know he thinks that the level of play of the Big 3 (or 4) is so much higher than any other player in any other era, and that is the reason why the younger players cannot break through. The nextgen are as good or better than any generation except the Big 4 generation. Players born in the Big 4 generation are the most unlucky, followed those of the next generation.
I hope Rafa has a great clay season so that he can continue with his winning momentum right after and carries it over across the year to the AO next year injury free.
Rafa is unfortunate that he has had to suffer injuries so often at the AO – 2010; 2011; missed 2013 due to injury; 2014; came back from injury in 2015; came back from injury in 2017 and lost to Fed who’s also just back from injury break; 2018; 2019 just came back from injury break!
It’s important that he ends a season well without injuries so that he can begin another in good health and fitness. The most important thing is to plan his schedule well now that he’s 32/33. He can’t just play everything like he’s 22 (even at 22 he would also get injured!).
I see players like Tsitsipas or Sasha or Shapo being good and potentially great players of the next gen. In fact I see them as great players in the making.
You don’t get into TOP ten, stays inside TOP four for two good years at the age of 20/21 without being great. Tsitsipas plays like Fed and beats Fed at his own game in the slam where Fed was the defending champion. Tsitsipas is on the verge of reaching top ten; can’t say he’s not great as a young player.
Shapo is the youngest of the trio and he comes with a flamboyant aggressive game and he’s inside TOP 30. There’s still De Minaur, Coric and Khachanov, who are starting to make their moves up the rankings, with Coric beating Fed twice last year and Khachanov beating Djoko in a Masters final.
I’m excited about this new generation of players, esp Tsitsipas. He’s ambitious and dedicated to the sports, plays a beautiful game, fearless, moves well and works hard. I think he’ll become a great player and wins many slams.
Players born in the Big 4 generation are the most unlucky, followed by those of the next generation.
Very surprised at first by this result, but after watching some replays, I really don’t think there was anything Nadal could have done to change the result, even if he could have made it closer by playing better. Novak really did play something close to a flawless match. 9 UE in an entire slam final has not happened for a long, long time (I think McEnroe had 3-4 when he crushed Connors at Wimby in ’84).
As I suspected, the Djokovic ROS on Nadal’s serve was an advantage, though a larger one than I thought. And Novak’s serve was incredibly good. Novak has a reputation for being a grinder, which he certainly can do better than anyone. But he played a really aggressive brand of tennis yesterday; the depth and placement of his shots was not the mark of someone playing it safe.
Based on this performance, and generally his record for the last few years, I think Novak should be considered the favourite going into RG.
Yup and for wimbledon and the US open too!
As I said earlier on, whoever comes out being the more aggressive should win, in this case it’s Djoko.
Djoko came all prepared, never let Rafa into the match. It reminded me of Djoko during 2016 AO, ground his way through the draw, and then annihilated Fed in the SF and Murray in the final!
Rafa said it himself, even if he could find another gear, he still won’t be able to beat this Djoko. To beat Djoko, one must not allow him to play his game! Perhaps the in the zone Cilic may get a set; perhaps the unwavering Stan may get a chance to beat this Djoko; to me the key is you’ve to be more aggressive than Djoko to start with.
I’ve to go back to the 2007 Fed I feel, to find a version of Fed who’s as good or even better than this Djoko. Fed did impressed me a lot at that AO, I thought Gonzo looked unbeatable after beating both Rafa and Haas in straight sets but Fed easily dispatched him in style, not losing a set. The Fed with a great serve and great varieties might do the job. I do feel too that Rafa of USO2010 could make a match of this as he was in peak form physically and was great at both defence and offence.
The problem with Rafa’s acquired good serve is that he has to feel confident when serving. Against Djoko, he felt pressurized, and he was looking at the serve clock all the time when serving his first serve, that added to the pressure! To serve well, Rafa has to be confident; against his other opponents, he’s confident because he knew they weren’t great returners of serves.
In a way, this match reminded me of Fed’s Wimbledon 2015 when he annihilated Murray in the SF, playing his best match up till then, but once he faced Djoko(deep down I knew he would have problems because of Djoko’s ROS), he struggled to win a set and lost the match in four. Of course Rafa had done worse in this AO final, but the way he dispatched Tsitsipas gave us false hope that he might do well against Djoko in the final; not unlike Fed in Wimbledon 2015. Both cases, Djoko put his great ROS into good use, not even Fed’s great serve could be spared.
Being a Nadal fan, its so painful to even watch the highlights. I hope Nadal and Moya admit and understand what went wrong. Rafas game was pathetic the first few games not able to even hit a normal forehand instead reaching out for a defensive forehand on even mid court balls. It was awkward. Novak played great yes but Rafa is a fighter and only Novak has him mentally this weak and worse than 2011. Agreed its just a post match opinion and wouldnt have been this worse if the match was 4 sets or closer. But unless Nadal clears his head and knows he has the game to stay and beat Novak.. this is going to continue. He cant walk into a french final thinking Novak has a better game.
Rafa kept saying Novak played unbelievable. Maybe he was trying to not say he played bad and wanted to give credit.. but if stays true to himself.. this is more bad playing by him than all Novak.
Rafa was bad no doubt but Djoko was unbelievably good! He made Rafa played bad, just like Rafa did to most of his other opponents.
Djoko’s serves and returns were unbelievable, putting pressure onto all his opponents including Rafa. This match reminded me of AO2016 SF and Final; and also Wimbledon 2015 when Fed was unbelievable against Murray in the SF but when in the final, Djoko not only simply neutralized Fed’s serve but also served impeccably himself to beat Fed, just like in this AO final.
Imo, only a few guys playing at the TOP of their games could have a chance against this Djoko:
1) top form Stan with his unwavering groundstrokes from the baseline throughout the whole match, for Stan simply has the power to blow anyone off the court consistently throughout a match and he’s a bad match up for Djoko at the slams;
2) the AO2007 Fed, perhaps the best version of Fed I’d seen. He simply ‘killed’ his opponents swiftly in style, not losing a single set (I checked, he spent just 12.5 hours on court then for the whole tournament!) and made the on fire Gonzo looked lost in the final that year. It’s from then that I truly appreciate how good Fed is/was during his peak. Fed could use his great serves and varieties to move this Djoko out of his comfort zone.
3) the USO2010 Rafa with great movement, FH and BH, defence and offence, plus a great serve would be able to battle it out with Djoko from the baseline imo.
I think an in the zone Cilic could get a set but he couldn’t be in the zone the whole match.
Roger Federer, the 3rd greatest of all time behind Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Who would’ve thought? Just proves once again, it’s not over until the fat lady sings!
https://www.firstpost.com/sports/australian-open-2019-despite-loss-to-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadals-insatiable-hunger-to-improve-continues-to-inspire-5972401.html
Well said Joe Smith.
Thanks for the article Sanju.
I agree with most of the points. I also felt that Rafa did have his chances during the match to go for his shots, like hitting his FH DTL instead of going CC all the time. There were times where Djoko was way back behind the baseline but Rafa chose to wait for the ball to come back to him instead of rushing forward to put pressure on Djoko.
I feel lack of matches since USO2018 was a problem for him when facing Djoko. Rafa was that good a player that he could beat most players even when he’s a bit rusty but against a player of Djoko’s caliber, Rafa’s shortcomings would be exposed.
He overhit or mishit shots he used to make regularly; he felt rushed by Djoko because Rafa himself was a bit slow. He lacked confidence hence he’s not hitting his FHDTL shots.
I don’t think Rafa will play this way in future when he meets Djoko, it’ll be hard fought matches again regardless of surfaces; Rafa will be better than now whilst Djoko won’t be producing sublime tennis like this always, so normalcy will resume – Djoko has the advantage on HCs and Rafa on clay and grass is 50/50 imo after that 2018 match at Wimbledon.
Yeah, thank you for the article Sanju.
After reading it, I am pretty convinced that Rafa will most certainly win next six GSs.
And yes, it’s all about Rafa. If he plays like he wants, not another human being stands a chance against him.
Couldn’t be any clearer.
If Nadal continues to return and play from 2-3 meters behind the baseline, he will struggle against Novak in coming matches. But Novak can lose early, he can have his bad days also. So, Rafa needs to be patient.
French Open would not be easy for Rafa this time. Novak at his best can beat Rafa in RG finals, but again there are so many variables like how the draw pans out, Theim/Zverev factor.
But Rafa at his best > Djoko at his best on clay esp at RG.
Why won’t Rafa be able to play his best on clay, when without playing any warm up event, and without competing since USO last year, he’s still able to reach a HC slam final?
Djoko’s flat shots won’t be that threatening on clay, if not he won’t be losing so often to Rafa at RG. Rafa finishing his matches so quickly is a good sign, meaning he’s doing less damage to his body; that way, he’s able to conserve energy and prevent injury, and that’s important for his clay season where he has his usual heavy workload.
It’s rare that Rafa finishes at the AO and still is feeling relatively fresh physically; he’s normally either injured, or simply too tired after the AO.
Joe, Rafa’s newly acquired serve can be effective only when he’s feeling confident. Against Djoko, he not only was racing against the shot clock but also had to be wary of Djoko’s returns. Noticed that he kept looking up to the clock, it’s like he’s so afraid to go over the time limit.
Against his other opponents, he’s more confident as he knew they weren’t that great in their ROS. Djoko simply could return serves so well that he’s able to drag his opponents into baseline battles with him when they were not given much chances to move forward.
Imo, only Shapo and Medvedev, could make the move up to the net as both came with great serves. They each got a set from Djoko, and Medvedev did push Djoko hard, too bad he’s not a net rusher, so he stayed at the baseline to rally with Djoko all night long and lost. Nobody imo could beat Djoko from and at the baseline now.