Resumption of the Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal rivalry will get an earliest possible start in 2016, as they are set to square off at their first tournament of the year. The Doha title will be at stake when Djokovic and Nadal meet again on Saturday.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be squaring off for the 47th time in their careers when they clash in the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Saturday.
The head-to-head series is all tied at 23-23 following Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-3 victory in the semis of the World Tour Finals. Nadal was once borderline dominant in this rivalry, but Djokovic has turned the tide in a major way to draw level. The Serb has won four in a row and eight of their last nine encounters. Nadal has not defeated the world No. 1 on a hard court since the 2013 U.S. Open title match, a span of five such matches.
While both players were considerable favorites to reach this final when the draw was revealed, neither did so with complete ease. Djokovic delivered consecutive 6-2, 6-2 destructions of Dustin Brown and Fernando Verdasco before things got trickier. The top seed recovered from a break down in three straight sets, beating Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 7-5 and staging a first-set comeback against Tomas Berdych to prevail 6-3, 7-6(3).
Nadal survived a pair of three-setters, outlasting fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 and Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. The fifth-ranked Spaniard also scored wins at the expense of Robin Haase (6-3, 6-2) and Illya Marchenko (6-3, 6-4).
“To be back in a final is always a great feeling, especially the first week of the season,” Nadal assured. “For sure (it) is important for me for my confidence, (to) confirm that the end of 2015 season had been something realistic and this beginning of 2016 I am still playing well, so [I’ve] already won four matches here and [am] in the final.”
“I guess it’s a pretty important match tomorrow; let’s see what happens,” Djokovic said following his semifinal victory over Berdych. “It’s been a long rivalry. It’s an exciting challenge for both of us.”
Although Nadal has not been a challenge for Djokovic of late, the 14-time major champion was a shadow of his real self throughout 2015. This one should be far more competitive than their four most recent showdowns, but Nadal is not quite ready to turn the rivalry back in his favor–at least not on this surface.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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who ya got?
Nadal looks better than in 2015.I give him a chance here…
there’s no doubt he has a chance!
I do think that Rafa has a chance to win this final. I am looking forward to seeing him take on Novak again.
I think Rafa will at least get a set off Novak. I don’t think this is going to be a 2 set win for either guy.
Nole in two
Even if Novak showed some signs of drop in level I wouldn’t be fooled with it…he turns into a beast when playing for the title (something that was a major feature of Rafa of old-it was almost impossible to beat him once he is reached the final stage) and especially when playing Rafa…
I see this one as a competitive encounter. Rafa is playing better, he is implementing new things and I expect there will be some new tactics particularly for Nole. Is Rafa ready to fully comply with the plan and can he sustain the level he needs remains to be seen.
I believe in Rafa! This one could easily go either way…Rafa is the underdog and not many people expect him to win. They may as well be right, but I have the feeling he can take this one.
I won’t go into details on what Rafa needs or should do…we all know well what are the improvements Rafa is working on…but what I
hope to see is ruthless and “angry” Rafa, and not the one who was in the office during 2015…
Vamos Champ!!!
I missed too many Doha matches. It’s a coin flip from what I’ve read. Okay, it should take 3 sets but that’s what I picked the last time they met and it was over in 2.
Went with Nole in 3.
natashao (AT 10:32 PM) gets it!
no
It’s hard to assess whether Rafa has really improved or not. Weak opponents make their foes look better than what they really are.
Nole in 2
well you are referring only to Doha
his World Tour Finals performance means far more than his last four matches in Doha. Nadal destroyed both Stan and Murray. Now THOSE are not weak opponents.
Doha final match is important for both players,
For Novak winning is to confirm his dominance on the tour, and for Rafael win is important in order to overcome lack of confidence.
Let better player win in 2 set
Idemo Novak ! !!!!
agreed. Except probably 3 sets.
?
Gotta bite.
Then why did you pick it to go two?
Covering your bases?
if Nadal wins obviously
no
Rafa must play at his best level if he has any chance for the victory.
I predict this match will be won in two.
hawkeye,
But you are not saying who will win in 2 sets. I don’t see Rafa beating Novak in straight sets. Not at this time. If he’s going to do it, then it will be in 3 sets.
Didn’t want to.
I would love to see Rafa wining in 2 but that is so unlikely and unrealistic at this stage…
Obviously, if Rafa emerged victorious it would be in 3 sets…
Idemo Rafa! ?
It’s a good match for rafa to test his level and see where he is at. I don’t think he will beat Novak
Even if he has strategies I am not sure he should reveal them now in a 250
@ sanju 12.32,
i tend to agree…he either may not want to reveal the secret weapon or he decides to test it and see if it works…the first being more likely…
Doha is faster surface which always gives issues to Nadal. He has won only once in 2014 when he was aiming for double career slam. In other years, he lost to Monflis twice and others while playing above average in his first tourny of the year. I am going with joker in 2 with one decent close set. But, I am confident that he will do better in AO
COme one Rafa! Even if you do not win, put some seeds of doubt in Nole’s mind. He has been getting his own way for a while now!!
Nole to win this battle of Doha in the war of the 2016 season in 2
Djoko as usual is faking an injury. If he loses, he can blame his injury. If he wins, he can say I can beat Rafa on one leg or one arm or whatever.
On another site they speak so disparagingly of Rafa that I feel sick to my stomach. I lose nothing by making an optimistic prediction so here goes: Rafa in 3! Come on Rafa, do it!
Mary W (AT 3:40 AM),
—On another site they speak so disparagingly of Rafa…—
===
.
I don’t know what site you are talking about but that’s what the AntiRafaBrigade has always been doing everywhere.
@ Mary 3:40,
“I lose nothing by making an optimistic prediction”…
My sentiments exactly!
Do it, Rafa!
Rafa in three or Novak in two. Novak normally beats in straight sets in BO3 matches.
Rafa will have his chances esp when Novak not at 100%.
Novak playing at 50/60% was still able to beat the no.6 player in straight sets, that shown us how big the gap is between no.1 and no.6! Hope the no.5 player does better.
Off topic. Watched Fed vs Dimi and now watching Fed vs Thiem makes me appreciate Rafa, Novak and Murray even more. The trio could beat up Fed during Fed’s prime or even at his peak. The current youngsters couldnt even beat up an old man Fed and getting a set from Fed was already such a difficult task!
The big four beating up on each other is what makes today’s game so good. It’s awesome. Also on another note fed looked super good tonight. If he sustains that level especially the level of the first set, he can definitely take Melbourne home.
What is wrong with Novak injury ?
He looked fine yesterday
He is fine
Novak in 2
6 3 6 4
Now Nadal’s serve is seems to be the problem. Last match he has improved a bit. But against Novak, It will be the match deciding thing.
very possible
If Rafa can produce that USO2013 serve it’ll be fantastic. (Im not even talking about his 2010USO big serve here!)
In a BO3 match Rafa is always at a losing end when facing Novak, even on clay because he always starts slow and has to do catch ups most of the time.
Novak always comes out all guns blazing against Rafa, knowing Rafa’s style of always doing catch ups. Novak has his strategy right and it works against Rafa in BO3 winning 12 out of 15 such matches between them from 2011 to 2015.
luckystar (AT 7:50 AM),
Speaking of his 2010USO serve, it caused a shoulder problem and he said that the ball came back too quickly.
Yep so the USO2013 serve was the better one in that sense. But seriously, I see no problem with Rafa’s 2010 serve when all his opponents except Novak couldnt break it. Even Novak had about 5 BP chances only taking one or two of them if Im not wrong – once in first set, once in second to take the set – whilst Rafa had 20+ BP chances! That’s how good Rafa was during that USO2010 final.
Rafa also didnt lose a set until the final in that 2010 USO so I dont understand whats his concern except the shoulder issue. His big serve helped him to his Tokyo title that year, serving 18 aces to narrowly beat Troicki in the SF when Troicki himself served 20 over aces!
He wasnt serving that great or that big in the USO2011 final hence Novak was returning all his serves with interest. I doubt Novak could handle his 2010 serve even now tbh.
Novak owns rafa as we speak
Winning 8 of past 9 is not a joke
Nadal can beat anyone but Novak is a stern challenge for him. He turned the rivalry in 12-13 winning 6 of 7 and suddenly regressed losing 8 of next 9
..but 4 of which were in 2015 when Rafa was at his worst.
Rafa was 3-1 in 2012; 3-3 in 2013 and then 1-2 in 2014, so he’s 7-6 vs Novak from 2012 to 2014, hardly any disaster. Moreover, he was 4-0 vs Novak at the slams during those three years.
Its still 2015 that makes the difference. Put into perspective, Rafa had the last say in 2014 winning the big prize ie the FO. Its only when he had such a bad year in 2015 losing 20 matches the whole year that Novak had his 4 wins over Rafa.
Rafa has his worst share of bad luck in 2012 and 2014, having to miss a whole chunk of the season in both years.
He was on course to retain his no.1 ranking in 2014 but had wrist injury not to memtion his back injury in Jan. In 2012 he was leading the race until the Wimbledon and Novak and Fed narrowly edged him there for the lead. The trio could have fought it out for the no.1 position back then.
well said lucky. rafa himself said that he could have been number one in 2012 if not for injury and it must have been incredibly galling for him that he couldn’t be there to take advantage of nole’s dip in form and confidence after rafa started to beat him culminating in rg2012. you can’t count the loss to rosol as meaning anything because it only happened because of the knee otherwise he could have stacked up the slams (including wimby) that year with nole faltering.
as for 2014, once he beat nole at the french he had a great chance of racking up another fantastic US hard court season with nole out of form and muzza not functioning…i reckon he would have won us open 2014 if not for injury.
lucky,
Thanks for reminding us of the facts with Rafa. From 2012 to 2014 Rafa was getting the better of Novak, especially in the slams. It was the bad luck of having injuries that changed everything.
Rafa needs some good luck to stay healthy. Then things will be sorted out.
15-0
30-0. Not sure why Rafa is moving so slow.