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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http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2019/01/novak-djokovic-rafae/79386/
Great write-up, Steve. Of course I agree. Novak did save his best for the last match vs an opponent he knows extremely well. As a Novak fan I do worry about him in earlier rounds vs a newer unknown player like Shapo or Medvedev. It’s more of an experiment with those new guys. Rafa is familiar and this is AO – Novak and AO go together well.
Also the way Rafa was serving and played so well, without dropping a set all the way to the final, had me on edge, doubting Novak. I know Novak can elevate his game vs Rafa but there’s doubt. Then Novak did it so well in the end. And it was a magnificent display in Melbourne. But can he do it at RG? That’s Rafa’s home GS. It’s not so easy there. We’ll see. I don’t bet against Rafa at RG.
One thing is for sure, Federer would’ve put up a bigger fight than Nadal did in that final.
Worst effort by Rafa in his tennis career given the circumstances and his form coming into that match.
He got stage fright because Djokovic diffuses his game on a hardcourt. He basically threw in the towel before the match started and didn’t even give himself a chance. At least play your game and try your best. If your opponent outplays you too good but to concede defeat psychologically due to a most likely outcome is really a blemish on his career in terms of his reputation of having superior mental fortitude to the other greats. Nadal’s immaturity in this department has been exposed on several occasions during his career.
Jim, isn’t it like Fed vs Rafa at FO2008? Or Djoko vs Murray at Wimbledon 2013 final? Or Murray vs Djoko AO2011 final?
If your opponent played lights out tennis, you probably had to say too good!
Yes, but that’s just because Rafa didn’t feel like playing.
If he was, Novak wouldn’t stand a chance in this final, no?
No need to be sarcastic; Rafa just didn’t have it in him to fight in the final. Notice that he’s slow in his movements compared to Djoko.
I would say none of Rafa’s six opponents before the final had the defensive skills like Djoko’s so Rafa could have his way with his aggressive play. And, with his success in his aggression, his opponents were busy defending that they had not the chances to test Rafa’s defences.
It took a player of Djoko’s caliber to test both Rafa’s offence and defence, and as the match unfolded, we all realised Rafa’s four months absence from competition really had an impact on him – he’s slower around the court when his defence was put to the test; his shot selections and executions when under pressure were questionable at times and full of errors.
Given more time for training and fine tuning of his game, I’m sure Rafa will regain his foot speed, his defensive skills and hone his aggressive skills even more and perhaps incorporate that permanently into his game.
We’ll wait and see, no need to be negative, I’m sure he’ll do better against Djoko next time; he may still lose on the HCs, but on clay and even grass, I know he’ll be competitive and have better success.
Tell me this, if it wasnt Djokovic at the other end of the court and some other player playing those shots, would Nadal lose in straight sets? Nadal played nothing like his previous matches. All we expected from him is that he would turn up and hit freely like he did in his prior matches, not turn up and play the complete opposite.
Nadal needs to play the underdog card against Djokovic on hardcourt and grass and stop playing like the guy that has the reputation lose.
He had no self-belief in that final and im hoping we never see that again from him for the rest of his career.
People need to stop sweeping it under the carpet, Nadal needs to learn a big lesson from that so it doesn’t happen again.
I’m sure Rafa is the first person who won’t want that to happen again!
We can talk all we want here, but only Rafa knows what really happened to him, why he played that way etc. I’m sure he and his team will go figure out what went wrong and how to improve on that, if they don’t want that to happen again.
I know what happened to him. He lost the match before it even started.
He was the prey and not the hunter. Rewind 10 years and Nadal would’ve eaten up that opportunity and thrown the kitchen sink at Djokovic.
Well Rafa is no longer that young, I do feel after numerous injuries, Rafa will not run after every ball the way he did ten years ago.
Rafa’s fighting spirit is still there, if not he won’t win matches like that USO match vs Thiem; or fought hard to beat Delpo at Wimbledon and narrowly lost a five setter to Djoko.
We’ll see, will Rafa solve the Djoko problem, or will he continue to ‘fear’ Djoko, time will tell.
PS. Your question about Rafa facing someone else instead of Djoko in the final – well as I mentioned earlier, unless that player had the ability, like Djoko, to expose the weakness in Rafa’s defence, Rafa would most likely beat his opponent with his aggressive game.
Actually there is some truth in what Jim is saying! It is this side of things which worries me most if I am being honest.
Also if I am being honest I don’t really know what to think about yesterday.
I didn’t see the match but reading posts from vr who I respect absolutely where he says rafa was a bag of nerves and that however well Nole was playing rafa was messing up neutral balls when he wasn’t under pressure and not even trying to hit his fhdtl which has been brilliant all tourney and is usually the indicator of how well he is feeling the ball makes me wonder what the hel l was going on with rafa mentally. Cheryl commented that he wouldn’t have beaten any player in the top 20 the way he played yesterday reinforcing the points Vr was making.
I wish vr would come back btw!!
Also, read the transcripts of Rafa’s presser to have a better idea why he played so badly and how he felt after the loss.
Rafa was still positive about his performance at this AO, and this loss didn’t affect him that much, unlike that Wimbledon loss.
Finally I watched the Rafole this morning. And I must admit how proud I am of how Nole is playing. He doesn’t seem as wound up and angry like he became in 2016. He appreciates playing tennis and playing Rafa. Rafa has made him work hard to be able to play this well and sustain the level. Younger guys have not reached that development and many just won’t because they can’t. We are indeed lucky to have Rafa, Novak, and Roger.
I hope there will be a few special ones coming along and have such lofty goals and the strength to fight for it. Tennis is blessed by these special athletes – both men and women.
Amy, I remember after Abu Dhabi, I mentioned that Rafa would not win the AO and reaching QF was the best he could do. Many here didn’t agree with me.
My reason was that it’s too soon to expect Rafa to win a big title, esp with Fed the defending champion and Djoko the no.1 player around (and Djoko was having all the momentum with him having reached so many finals and winning some).
Rafa had exceeded my expectation, reaching the final and playing so well to beat his opponents before the final without dropping a set, so much so that he made us believed and had the false hope that he would beat Djoko to win the title.
As it turned out, it’s really too soon for him to win a big title with Djoko there in the final. I don’t expect Rafa to do this bad the next time they meet, as I believe by then Rafa should already have time to hone his skills and improves his defence and his movements, back to his previous good level.
Yes lucky I remembered what you said already and you were right. I know some people will attack me for saying this but I actually wish now rafa hadn’t got to the final. If he had a great run and gone out in style in the semis that would have still have been a,great result after being out so long. Nole is his biggest rival and it doesn’t do him any good to have that performance stored in his memory.As sanju says rightly tennis is a mental sport!☺
If Fed could overcome the mental block he had against Rafa, why would Rafa not being able to overcome his against Djoko? After all, it’s not like Rafa was hopeless against Djoko, he’s 25-28 against Djoko, and had won their two recent clay court matches. Furthermore, Rafa is known as the warrior, his competitive nature and mental toughness would help him overcome the mental block he may have against Djoko. It may take some time, who knows?
Rafa is a positive person, so he and his team will keep looking for solutions. He may not beat Djoko on the HCs often but maybe once in a while, but he’s more than capable of beating Djoko on clay.
I agree with you, Lucky- there is no reason he can’t overcome it. We saw him beat Novak at 2012 RG after losing the previous 3 major Finals to him. I see no reason why he can’t turn it around again at this year’s RG. If Fed could beat Rafa at a major again after 9 1/2 years, then Rafa should be able to do it after 5 years. Doesn’t mean he will, but there is no doubt that he CAN!
Of course I believe he can beat Nole at RG lucky!! I don’t know why you make that inference! It’s really quite annoying that you do when I have been consistently so upbeat about rafa winning multiple slams this year! Far more upbeat than you!
PS nny will have to reply tomorrow, dead beat now!
Mira dear where are you? Are you ok? Big hug xxx
amy,
I don’t know what to think either. I did not fe that comfortable talking about my feelings with that troll rubbishgoat posting his hatespeak.
I have accepted the disappointment of once again watching Rafa not win the double career slam. But I do have questions. I also did not watch the match, but was reading the live blog and realized that Rafa was playing like crap.
He apparently played quite badly. I thinking now that he just was not ready to meet Novak. People said he was slow in his movement. It takes a lot of physical and mental strength to play Novak. Rafa did not have it at this time.
Good Morning, Nny.
I just read your post on that other thread and agree. No more politics on the tennis threads. And I’m sorry. We can support each other on the non-tennis forum here. I’ll check it more to to read and reply if you are there. It’s important to stick together in a very tough time. We have a lot of work ahead before we are out of this nightmare.
Nny i will reply later because I am a bit frantic today with other things. It’s ok I know what you were thinking and what you were or were not prepared to talk about!!☺
PS come back vr!!!!
Hey amy….Thank u very much for your concern amy!….Very rare people shown their interest in me…that’s why your concern deeply deeply appreciated amy!..
Well…i gotta admit,this is the most painful lost from Rafa i’ve ever feel…I mean,after the out of this world perfomance prior to the final…this is the 1st time i believe Rafa has a chance to beat him…and i let myself hoping…but yeah….it’s not Rafa’s fault…it’s mine…All this time,i knew the psychological adv that Novak has on Rafa…and i shouldn’t forgot about that….And i think if Rafa fight like usual,it will not be so bad…but,that total drubbing was hard to take…that’s all…
Mira,
I agree with you. But as I said to amy, I just did not feel comfortable posting my thoughts with that horrible troll on the site. I did think Rafa could do it, but I also worried that he was undercooked going into the final. He saved his body with no tough matches, but being challenged is what brings out the best in Rafa. It was a huge step up in class for Rafa to play Novak.
I had a tough time dealing with the Wimbledon loss. That one just killed me. This one bothers me, but in a different way. The lopsided nature of the match is concerning. The fact that Rafa played so poorly also worries me.
However, I am not about to write Rafa off for the clay season. No way do I think Novak is the favorite for RG! Not against the man who has 11 titles!
Mira, it’s not the psychological advantage; if Rafa was quicker in his movements and his ROS was up to par, do you think he won’t do better than what he had done in the final.
Why must his loss to Djoko always be because of his mental block against Djoko? Rafa had beaten Djoko twice on clay recently, and he lost narrowly to Djoko at Wimbledon. Why then would he have mental block against Djoko in the AO final?
When Rafa lost narrowly to Djoko at AO2012, Rafa was very positive, that he’s getting close to beating Djoko at a HC slam. The Wimbledon loss hurt, as it was a closely fought five setter and I believe Rafa knew the importance of that match, on hindsight how it affected his year end ranking but more importantly the likelihood of him beating Anderson in the final to win his third Wimbledon title after six/seven years of departing early there.
However, I doubt that had created a mental block in him when meeting Djoko in future; if anything, he ought to be positive because he was so close to beating Djoko even on grass.
Rafa explained in his presser why he did so poorly in the final, Djoko was too good and he was unable to defend against Djoko’s aggression as he wasn’t able to fight the way he used to.
There’s no need to feel too upset about this loss, as Rafa certainly will play better than this in future, against Djoko and against anyone else.
Okay Lucky….We’ll see…
Hi mira! I knew you would be upset and so am I although I didn’t watch it because regardless of the reasons rafa gave afterwards I just don’t think they adequately explain what happened. From reading comments by our brilliant vr and others. As Jim said, regardless of the condition rafa was in would he really have folded like that if another player was playing exactly the same way. Vr said he was mishitting neutral balls!
Honestly i can’t get that stupid loss at wimby out of my mind. That involved such bad luck!
Big hug darling!
What a performance from Nole, amazing! I think the biggest thing was Nadal had changed his game to be more aggressive, play closer to the base line. This worked great against most players through the whole tourney who aren’t great returners of serve.
But if you watch the match, Nole’s depth on return was brutal. Most returns were at Nadal’s feet at speed. He didn’t have time to react and that put him on the backfoot on every service game.
Also ofcourse Nole was playing lights out, smoking the back hand cross court. Even as a big Nole fan I was hoping for a closer tighter final but Novak was just way too good. And Nadal was a bit in shock I imagine of how tough it was for him to compete.
Should make for an interesting french open!
Novak was just too good, Nadal didn’t come close.
If thet meet in the French Open Rafa might not be able to defeat this Hot Novak.
Nole played lights out as Rafa helped him play that way. He just never but any pressure on Nole. Rafa forehand ( some regard as the greatest shot in tennis) sprayed errors all Over the place. So Nole never felt the pressure and went for his shots.
Nadal has to beat Nole on 3 set clay matches else Nole will beat him at the French finals too.
If Novak goes onto win the French open again, surpass him in GS tally blah, blah, blah, then fair enough so what, does that all of a sudden make Nadal a failure ?
Why would he be a “failure”?
Did anyone say Nadal is a failure?
Novak Djokovic is just better.
Please, please. Calm down. Have some faith in Rafa!
Rafa had done well to be in the final, exceeding my expectation. He’s not ready to win a slam yet because he had to meet Djoko in the final (imagine if it’s someone else that he met there, Rafa might even win it)!
After four months without competing he still managed to reach a HC slam final, and he comes out in one piece- no injury, no fatigue- that’s something to be thankful about for us his fans.
If he’s good enough to reach a HC slam final, then why would he do worse at a clay court slam? As long as he keeps training and competing and stays injury free, he will be the man to beat on clay.
I think this hand wringing about Rafa’s chances in clay, is really premature and quite unnecessary. Rafa is not going anywhere. When he is on his beloved clay, he is a force unto himself. People have written him off at times before when he was not as dominant on clay. But 11 RG titles do not lie. Neither do all his titles overall.
Rafa needs to get matches u set his belt and get stronger to reach his best form. This idea that Novak will now dominate him on clay is really not realistic.
I would not be foolish enough to write off Rafa for the clay season.
Rads needs to get matches under his belt! *
RAFA! Stupid autocorrect!
One more thing, if we the Rafa fans are so upset by how Rafa played in the final and lost so meekly, then look at his fellow big four:
As great as Fed is, his loss to Rafa at the FO2008 was even worse. Just remember, Fedal are great and so when they lost the final in that manner, it’s shocking. Fed and Rafa has lost only once in straight sets in slam finals, and Fed has played in 30 slam finals and Rafa 25.
Djoko has lost in straight sets twice – once in his first ever slam final, at USO2007 to Fed; and to Murray at Wimbledon 2013.
Murray has lost in straight sets a few times – USO2008 his first slam final; AO2010,2011,2016 finals.
Fed and Rafa were so good that they both reached the final at AO in 2017 after coming back from injury. What’s impressive about Rafa at the AO this year is that he’s able to reach a slam final even without playing for four months, and had surgery on his ankle so had not that much time to practice.
I, as a Rafan, would prefer he wins more titles but the longer he feels the drive to improve and beat Novak again the longer he’ll stay on tour, so there’s a positive side to everything. Of course, one can also argue that winning makes you want to go onwards as well and this is true but in sport, as with most things in life, we learn more from our setbacks than from our achievements.
So, let us look forward for more good things to come, yet again, for our great Rafa!
Its what some are alluding to though, to be honest, the commies, ex players, none Nadal fans will never give him credit for his achievements, he was lucky in this match, his opponent was unlucky in that match, opponent not at their best blah friggin blah, those that do give back handed compliments, its the way it is and always will be ….
Nny…Thank u for your understanding!…It’s so good to know that we feel the same way about this loss….
Yeah!…Wimbledon loss was very painful too…but at least i didn’t hope much in that match coz i already prepared myself for the outcome…i always knew if he were to meet with Novak,the chance of him winning were pretty slim esp if it’s on the surface other than clay…
And i have no doubt about his chance come clay season…insyaallah he will do well there…i wish Rafa will have the same confidence & self belief when they meet on grass & hc…but yeah..
About troll…just ignore them Nny…they loved it when they saw how riled we are when they ‘teased’ us a little bit…they posted the annoying comments just to provoke us Nny…and they maybe laughed heartily at our expense…just don’t give them the satisfaction anymore Nny…they will throw a bait..just don’t eat it okay?That’s the only way to deal with them…Let the dog barking,they will keep silence when they get tired…
Yes I agree with mira! Trolls feed on people responding to them, it gratifies them, makes them excited. It’s much the best thing just to ignore them and especially regarding politics! That’s why i almost never answer anything they write about politics. It’s just a waste of time and energy imo giving them the oxygen of publicity they thrive on.
I read an interesting article from a writer at Heavy Topspin, who wrote an article for The Economists, about Djoko and his backhand. (I do not know how to copy a link, so just provide the website/article link for those who are interested).
It mentioned about Djoko’s three losses to three youngsters last year and how they’re able to neutralise or at least make it less effective the Djoko CC BH. It’s interesting that it’s the youngsters who are giving Djoko more problems than the veterans. Both Shapo and Medvedev each won a set against Djoko, and Medvedev was the toughest opponent Djoko faced in this AO.
When the draw came out, I wrote that it would be interesting see how Djoko handled those two youngsters in R3 and R4, and said that Medvedev would be tricky for Djoko. True enough, Djoko needed 3 hours to beat him. What Medvedev lacked was the net rushing ability, had he moved to the net when Djoko was being pushed back behind the baseline, he might win the point.
Nadal OTOH, couldn’t gain any advantage going CC to Djoko’s BH with his own FH, and time and again, Rafa was still hitting CC to Djoko’s BH! What Rafa needs to do (if he insists on going CC to Djoko’s BH) is to flatten his own FH and hit it with more depth. Also, adds in a good BHDTL shot to his tool box so that at any time, he could change direction from CC to DTL from both wings.
Rafa has a good CC BH, a flat one and that’s good enough to counter Djoko’s FH; he needs a flat FH to counter Djoko’s DHBH CC, on non clay surfaces esp on the HCs which is Djoko’s fave surface.
https://www.economist.com/game-theory/2019/01/29/novak-djokovic-wins-again-but-young-rivals-expose-his-weakness
But those guys met up with a Novak who was not playing great tennis in the early rounds. That gave them a chance to get a set off him. We have seen this movie before many times – Novak is slow starting in slams. But he saves his best for the semis and finals. Rafa was facing a much different Novak in that final.
Actually Rafa also will raise his level of play when he gets to the crucial stage of slams. But in this case he simply was not battle tested and ready and able to do it. He had more than enough to beat the young guys.
I do realize that Rafa was not where he needed to be to face a very confident and on fire Novak. Being off for months does exact a price. It always seems to be something before the AO every year. It is a good result to get to the final of this tournament, but I am still u settled by just how poorly Rafa played, how non-competitive the match was. I am hopeful that more tournaments played and more match wins will get Rafa truly fit and in his best form for the clay season.
Hi nny! I agree with what you say and I have just written similar to mira. Whatever rafa says as explication it doesn’t add up in its parts to the whole does it? Ie the abject nature of the loss.
Rafa is still the man to beat at RG though! It’s quite absurd when he has 11 titles for people to make him into the underdog!
I am still unsettled. *
Don’t have to worry, Rafa won’t play like this from now on! It’s just one match and so many Rafa fans get worried and unsettled.
I was the one who didn’t expect Rafa to go beyond QF at the AO, and was pleasantly surprised by his good results in reaching the final. We were overly optimistic about Rafa’s chances in the final, but forgot that against an elite player Djoko, who was with the winning momentum since mid of last season, Rafa simply couldn’t bring his best game to provide a good fight when he’s lacking in match play. It’s obvious that without matches, his ROS suffered, his movements too.
Djoko got beaten in finals at Paris Masters and WTF, those were important tournaments. The youngsters shown there’s a way to beat Djoko, even on Djoko’s fave surface.
Rafa has to find a way to beat Djoko on the HCs. I hope Rafa and his team study those matches and figure out a way for Rafa to beat Djoko on the HCs. It’s not impossible though it may be very tough to do.
Yeah…Very true what u r saying Lucky!…I wonder why Rafa had such a tough job to defeat Nole on hc…Is it bcoz of his knees can’t stand the hard cement?Or his style just won’t cut it on hc?I read that his heavy top spin will land a little bit higher on court,so it’s easy for Nole to counter it with his flat fh or his dangerous bh…Is it true Lucky?
If so, do u think what strategy Moya will come up with in order to face Nole The Destroyer?And i think he better find it fast coz i’m pretty sure they will meet again at IW..or Miami(if Rafa choose to play)..
Mira, like I said, Rafa has to hit his FH CC flatter and with depth. He has to use his FHDTL more often and add in a BHDTL shot so that he can go CC or DTL from both wings.
He’s so used to serving out wide with his lefty serve that it becomes so predictable. Why not add in more serve down the T, to keep his opponent guessing. When Rafa was younger, he used to serve down the T very often when his back was against the wall and needed his serve to bail him out of troubles. He also needs to beef up his second serve, it has gotten worse now compared to 2017 when his second serve was incredibly good.
We had discussed this before, that when he could rely on his good second serve, he was less pressurized serving his first serves; with his great first serve now, he should worry less when he has a good second serve to back it up.
He kept looking at the shot clock when he’s serving, it’s like he’s so worried that he would go over the time limit, got penalised with his first serve taken away, and had to serve a second serve which wasn’t that reliable these days.
I feel his ROS needs improvement, he’s returning from so far out wide at his deuce court, that left his ad court wide opened. Unless he hits his CC return well from there, his opponent may just rush to the net after serving to intercept Rafa’s CC return and hits it to the open court and Rafa will have a hard time running to cover that position. Why not return the serve DTL around the net post for a change, and have the ball landing at his righty opponent’s BH corner instead? Keep his opponent guessing!
He should also move forward after returning serve ( like what Murray used to do) so that 1) he could take away his opponent’s reaction time, 2) he need not cover too much court when he moves forward cutting off some wide angles.
I think if he can vary his court position when returning serves, that may make Djoko guess a little more when serving, and so could affect Djoko’s precision a little bit imo.
Mira, see my post at 3.31pm above, the last two paragraphs.
In addition, he has to serve with varieties to keep Djoko guessing – like serve more down the T instead of going out wide so often. He has a good enough body serve, has to improve his second serve to maybe his 2017 level, so that he need not feel pressurized on his first serve because he knows he can rely on his second.
His ROS needs improvement imo; add in a return DTL option when returning from so far out wide at his deuce court, make his opponent guess where his return is going. He should also learn to move forward to the baseline or moves into the court immediately after returning serve, to cut off the angles so that he need not run so much to cover the court behind the baseline. By moving forward, he’s taking away reaction time of his opponent, thus rushing opponent into errors (just like Fed’s SABR effect).
Rafa has to implement changes step by step, I doubt he could change so many things at the same time. I feel that’s the problem with him being so successful on clay, that he tends to play his clay court style on other surfaces and has to make changes when playing on other surfaces.
Fed and Djoko OTOH, plays a style that suits the HCs so they’re so comfortable playing on them and need not make any or that much changes to their game.
Very nice analysis, but its strange that Rafa got this drubbing after he had studied new tactics with Moya. Theres only so many new tactics you can try , and especially be able to execute them under big match conditions. It gets even harder to change as he gets older .
There cant be many secrets left about how they play each other
It’s a WIP; I didn’t see Rafa flattening his FH when playing on the HC at AO. There wasn’t any changes to his ROS and court positioning when returning serves.
Rafa had not that much time to hone his skills as he could only practice during Dec, and he had to be careful not to injure himself during training too (esp his abdominal muscles which gave him problems that he had to withdraw from the Paris Masters).
We’ll see how much changes he would make during Feb now the AO is over. Perhaps we’ll see more changes during Acapulco and IW.
It’s not about secrets; it’s about match ups. If Rafa wants to beat Djoko on the HCs, he needs a flat penetrating FH, a BHDTL shot, a more varied serve and returns.
As long as he’s able to push Djoko back behind the baseline with a flat penetrating CC FH, he’ll have his chances to either move forward to the net, or hit to the open court. A DTL BH would also give him more options. In their USO2010 final, Rafa hit some great BHDTL, and even BHDTL slices!
Rafa has these in his arsenal, it’s just that he’s not able to get them firing on all cylinders at the same time. Rafa can hit a flatter FH when he’s practicing, it’s just that he’s not used to hit it flat during matches, except that I/O CCFH where he hits from his BH corner.