It is the ultimate challenge in modern day tennis – facing Rafael Nadal on the clay courts of Roland Garros. Only one man has managed to beat the Spaniard at the French Open in 10 years – Robin Soderling.
The Swede is the ‘1’ in Nadal’s incomprehensible 65-1 win-loss record, and Novak Djokovic will now attempt to make it 65-2.
This will be the sixth time Djokovic will try to beat Nadal in Paris and the Serb came quite close in the semi-finals last year but blinked towards the back-end of the fifth set and naturally, the Spaniard pounced.
Just like last season, Djokovic enters this match-up with a recent victory over Nadal on clay. In 2013, he had ended the Mallorcan’s eight-year reign in Monte Carlo six weeks before their Paris meeting, and this time around, he comes off a victory over him in the Rome final last month.
But Djokovic, more than anyone, knows how little that can matter in a best-of-five match against Nadal at Roland Garros.
To beat him, Djokovic must find it in him to stay laser-focused for as long as the last ball is played. The Serb looked sick and completely wrecked during his last set and a half against Ernests Gulbis in the semi-finals and he refused to elaborate on how he was feeling after that match.
He needs to feel 100 per cent to have any chance today.
Tactics-wise, he has definitely figured out a way to beat Nadal consistently. He’s won their last four matches (all best-of-three) and each time, Nadal seemed to run out of ideas.
Nadal is used to attacking his opponents’ backhands but when it comes to Djokovic, the second seed’s backhand is his strength not his weakness.
Djokovic takes the ball early and has managed to keep Nadal on the defence in their recent matches. But we can expect an in-form Nadal to pummel the ball today, the way he did against Andy Murrayin the semis and it’s Djokovic who must bring his defensive A-game.
The weather is expected to be warm (highs of 27°C) but showers are on the cards and the heavier and wetter the conditions, the worse it is for Nadal, who prefers dry and sunny weather so his forehand topspin can bounce higher.
For Djokovic to win he really needs to play with kind of abandon he showed against Roger Federer in the 2011 US Open, when he saved a match point with a monster forehand that landed on the line, later admitting he basically closed his eyes and just went for it.
It seems like when Djokovic starts to think about how huge it would be for him to win the French Open – the only slam he is yet to triumph in – the more mistakes creep into his game.
For Nadal, the motivation is there to win one more major, and equal Pete Sampras’ haul of 14, but pressure-wise, it is essentially just a ninth title for him in Paris, not the elusive dream it is for Djokovic.