Djokovic Nadal seems to be the new rivalry in men’s Tennis! As of January 2012, Djokovic is number 1 in the world and Nadal is number 2. In 2011, the two played each other in two Grand Slam finals and four Masters Series finals. Djokovic won all of those matches!

Djokovic Nadal In 2011
Incredible Rallies In The Wimbledon Finals!

Djokovic Nadal – Head-To-Head

As of January 2012, Djokovic and Nadal have played against each other 30 times and Nadal leads the rivalry with a 16-14 record! Novak Djokovic has won 8 out of the last 10 matches though, including three Grand Slam finals!

Nadal holds a 9-2 edge over Djokovic on clay. Djokovic did win their last two meetings on clay though. On grass Nadal also holds the edge with a 2-1 record, yet Djokovic won the most important match in the Wimbledon 2011 finals. Djokovic leads Nadal 11-5 on hard courts!

Let’s have a look at the results of the most important meetings between these two. (Grand Slam semifinals, Grand Slam finals and Master Series Finals)

Most Important Matches

2012 Australian Open Finals: Djokovic wins 5:7 6:4 6:2 6:7 7:5
2011 US Open Finals:         Djokovic wins 6-2 6-4 6-7 6-1
2011 Wimbledon Finals:       Djokovic wins 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3
2011 Rome Finals:  	     Djokovic wins 6-4 6-4
2011 Madrid Finals:	     Djokovic wins 7-5 6-4
2011 Miami Finals: 	     Djokovic wins 4-6 6-3 7-6
2011 Indian Wells Finals:    Djokovic wins 4-6 6-3 6-2  

2010 US Open Finals:	     Nadal wins 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2
2009 Rome Finals:  	     Nadal wins 7-6 6-2
2009 Monte Carlo Finals:     Nadal wins 6-3 2-6 6-1
2008 French Open Semifinals: Nadal wins 6-4 6-2 7-6
2007 Wimbledon Semifinals:   Nadal wins 3-6 6-1 4-1 ret.
2007 French Open Semifinals: Nadal wins 7-5 6-4 6-2
2007 Indian Wells Finals:    Nadal wins 6-2 7-5

As you can see Nadal won all of the important matches before 2011 and Djokovic has won all of them since. It seems like Djokovic recently figured out how to beat Nadal or simply increased his level of play.

Let’s examine this in more detail and look at the match-up between these two players in regards to the four areas of Tennis!

Djokovic Nadal – The Match-Up

Let’s try and figure out what the deciding factors in this rivalry are!

Technical Match-Up

To me Djokovic has an edge in the technical match-up. Let’s compare all of the strokes for these two players.

Forehand

This is the only shot where Nadal could possibly have an edge. When Nadal’s forehand is at its best and he hits it really aggressive, I believe it is more dangerous than Djokovic’s forehand.

Nadal hits the ball with a lot more topspin than Djokovic, often reaching spin levels of around 5000 rpm! Djokovic on the other hand takes the ball earlier and is better at flattening out the shot, which allows him to hit more outright winners with the forehand.

Overall a very close call but I would still give a slight edge to Nadal.

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Backhand

Djokovic has the best backhand in the men’s game. He can do pretty much whatever he wants with this shot and has a clear advantage over Nadal in this area. Nadal’s backhand has been up and down throughout his career. Lately it has been relatively weak and lands short way too often.

Slice

Both of these players don’t have great slice backhands. They can use it to defend and stay in rallies but neither one of these guys possesses a dangerous slice backhand. I see this as a tie!

Serve

Now this is another close call. Djokovic has struggled with his serve in the past but is serving really well in 2011. Nadal has improved his serve over the years but still does not get a whole lot of free points from the serve.

The way Djokovic has been serving for all of 2011, I have to give him the edge in this category!

Volleys

From a technical standpoint Novak definitely hits better volleys than Rafa. Rafa’s backhand volley is shaky with a very open racket face. I give the edge to the Djoker here!

Physical Match-Up

Nadal has been considered the fittest player of all time and he intimidates his opponents with his physicality. Novak Djokovic on the other hand has developed into possibly the best mover around the tennis court in 2011.

He changed his diet and committed to the physical work off the court. In previous years you could see Novak breathing really hard after long rallies and it seems like that is not happening anymore in 2011.

Overall Nadal seems a bit fitter but Djokovic moves effortless around the court. This is another tie to me!

Tactical Match-Up

This is the area where Djokovic has improved so much and I see a clear edge for him on the tactical side.

Djokovic realized that the only way to beat Nadal is to continue taking balls on the rise and really going for his shots. He now has developed the confidence to do so on a regular basis and Nadal does not seem to have any answers yet!

In the 2011 US Open final Nadal has also been trying to hit a lot of slice backhands, which is a really bad tactic in my opinion. I think Nadal has no chance to beat Djokovic in this form once Djokovic controls the rally. The slice always puts Nadal on his backfoot and only leaves him with the hope of counter-punching his way out of trouble. Not a good strategy against Novak in 2011!

One more thing to keep in mind is that Nadal is so used to running around his backhand, which opens up the court a lot. If he does this too much though, Novak really punishes him by standing close to the baseline and hitting into the open court. I think Nadal should only run around some backhands when he has a good chance to really nail the forehand!

Mental Match-Up

This is another area where Djokovic has improved tremendously. He used to get real upset at himself in crucial situations and didn’t play his best Tennis when it matters. That has obviously changed in 2011 and he tends to stay quiet and focused now.

Nevertheless Nadal is the best competitor I have ever seen on a tennis court and I have to give him the edge here!

Djokovic Nadal In 2011
What Changed In The Match-Up ?

Nadal dominated the rivalry between these two great players until 2011. In 2011 though, Djokovic has been dominating and Nadal at times seemed helpless on the court against Novak.

So what has changed this year ?

I believe three changes in Djokovic’s game have made a huge impact on the rivalry.

First and foremost, Djokovic is now committed to taking as many balls as possible early and ripping his backhand down the line against Nadal’s heavy forehand topspin shots!

In the past other players have shown the way on how to beat Rafael Nadal. Guys like Del Potro, Tsonga and Soderling for example had some success with playing relentless aggressive Tennis against the Spaniard!

Djokovic has the big advantage that he has a phenomenal two-handed backhand. He is comfortable enough to take Nadal’s heavy topspin shots that often land a bit short and absolutely nail them with his two-hander. Most players don’t have the ability or the guts to do that on a consistent basis and especially Roger Federer struggles with this situation on his one-handed backhand!

The second thing that has changed is Djokovic’s physical level!

Previously, you could see him breathing extremely hard after long rallies against Nadal or Federer. In 2011 that has definitely changed. The media has been talking about his new gluten-free diet. I am not sure if that made the difference or if he simply trained harder but either way this was extremely important for him. You can’t sustain that kind of aggressive Tennis when you are breathing hard after those long rallies!

Lastly Novak has improved his serve tremendously. His serve is now a weapon in crucial moments where it used to be a liability in the past!

What Can Nadal Do Against Djokovic ?

Looking at the matches in 2011, it seems like Nadal really does not have any answers to Novak Djokovic when Djokovic is playing so well.

There have been times in those matches though, where Nadal was able to compete with Djokovic’s phenomenal level. One example is the third set in the 2011 US Open final. In the first two sets Nadal hit at least 60% slice backhands and was always on defense. In the third set he started hitting through his backhand and in general was a lot more offensive. He tried to hit big forehands whenever possible and Djokovic did not back down. As a result the level of the match was ridiculous.

I believe the only way for Nadal to beat Djokovic is to hit through his backhand and go for big shots off of both wings!

Additionally, Rafa needs to consider running around his backhand a lot less. There are two reasons for this. Number 1 is that he does not open up the court as much and number 2 is that he can only get more confident hitting his two-handed backhand in an agressive manner is he actually hits a lot of two-handed backhands!

Check out this point where Nadal hits through his backhand and seems to have an offensive mindset right from the beginning. He needs to get back to this mindset against Djokovic!

So that was it for my analysis of the Djokovic Nadal Rivalry!

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