We have been spoilt as tennis fans in the past few decades. Starting with the Federer-Roddick-Safin-Hewitt match-ups and then arguably the greatest rivalry in Tennis – FEDAL and now a glorious successor to FEDAL – NADKOVIC! They will be meeting in a final for the 19th time which equals FEDAL. Djokovic and Nadal have split their meetings 9-9 and this match will be a tie-breaker in that sense. The bigger perspective will be the tone that this match will set for the 2014 Tennis season. If you disagree on the significance this might have on the upcoming season, may I suggest the 2011 Year End which Roger Federer used as a spring board for success in 2012.
The biggest dynamic that will decide this match will be how Novak Djokovic will address the issue of “waking up early” – something I had addressed in my preview of their last big match clash at the US Open 2013. [No offence, my Chinese friends]. In many senses this year has been the year of 2 Novaks. One Novak who comes to the court ready to go and puts a whipping so bad that the opponent surrenders in straight sets. [Eg: Monte Carlo Final 2013 and Beijing 2013 Final]. The other Novak, let us call him NOTvak, comes to the court half-asleep and takes a set or sometimes 2 or doesn’t wake up at all. [Half-Asleep = US Open 2013 final and FO 2013 semi-final, Montreal 2013, semi-final. Completely dozed off at 2013 Wimbledon Final].
The biggest dynamic from Nadal nation’s perspective will be how battle-tested Rafael Nadal is. I know he is one of the ultimate warriors if not THE warrior our sport has seen, but even he can be under-cooked for a big match and the easy draw and Federer’s inability to consistently bring the goods during the big points yesterday means he will be coming into this match without being pushed enough in critical points of a match. This is however a good problem to have, since it means Nadal has been very good at taking care of business. His team and Rafa planet will be hoping he will continue to take care of business for one more match.
What does this clash mean for 2014 you may ask and to me there could be one or more fall-outs of this match. In the very short term, it gives 500 points to the winner and that would mean an extra week or two at No.1 ranking. The weeks at No.1 ranking race between these two legends of our game is as close as their matches always have been and every week will matter as these two build their already Hall of Fame Legacy with rapid strides. The other fall-out, which could be very important in this rivalry is Djokovic gaining some much needed momentum to turn this rivalry into one-way traffic like he did in 2011. Prior to 2011, Djokovic had never beat Nadal in a Grand Slam match or a final. Djokovic turned that around spectacularly in the Indian Wells Final in 2011. I suspect a win here could set the tone for another Godkovic Year as Novak fans call it. [2011 as the rest of the tennis fans call it].
Now to the all important prediction. I had predicted a NADKOVIC final pre-tournament and called for a Djokovic win in a 3rd set tie-break. I will go ahead and stick to my policy of not wavering from pre-tournament picks. [Worked well for me for Beijing, Shanghai and Basel. Not so good for Paris. But why fix something that aint broke, eh?]. Given these guys’ penchants for long matches, we might just see my prediction come true. It definitely did in my Montreal semi-final preview! If nothing, I am sure we all agree these guys will serve us up [or should I return us up as both these guys are more about the return than the serve!] with a classic match to round off a tennis season that has been nothing but classic for the Tennis Galaxy!
Prediction: Djokovic to win in 3 sets. 6-4, 6-7 and 7-6. Match Duration: Upwards of 150minutes. #BringItOn!
SportzCosmos 
So it begins!
Ok then…. missed the 1st set by 1 game 🙂 Godkovic is in da house! Unless GODal shows up me and Nadal will have to face the ignominy of getting things horribly wrong!
You just never believe in Djokovic, do you? Shocked to see you not predicting a straight sets win for Djokovic. Nadal has never looked convincing against Djokovic on the hard courts at all.
That is true Djoker fan. Well, Djokovic’s form during the week didn’t inspire much confidence, did it?
Looks like the real Novak woke up early after all! Sensational tennis frm Nole!
And wat a great piece of article. Everyone incl. Novak fans has to agree it is spot on!
2013 has been one if the most frustrating years for Nole fans like me. It’s been a case of ever so close but still far. Djokovic seriously was lookin good enuff to hav atleast 3 Grandslams in the bag if not all 4.
To cruise & fight it out in the preliminary rounds only to squander it in the finals was making fans tear their hair out. He wud hav had atleast 8 GS by now. As usual he simply didnt play his best tennis consistently enough in the finals. A resurgent Nadal & destiny child Murray didnt help matters either.
Frankly the US Open loss was a kind of low for Novak since 2011. All his hardwork going down a little drain and his rivalry with Nadal starting to go Raffa’s way……And the transformation since then has to be the best mini comeback of the year!
Undefeated since USO, 22 match winning streak, beating arch rival in 2 finals consecutively, bossing everybody else on the way & the most important….Playing God mode when it really mattered.
Frankly, I wasnt too confident seeing his last 2 matches, he was looking a bit jaded and the 3rd match in as many days didnt augur well either. But boy, did he prove everyone wrong in some style???
Most important year for him wud be 2014 as far as GS are considered. He has to win atleast a couple of them to get near to tht elusive 10+ club asap….
Proud of u Nole & wishing u the vry best of luck for ur Davis Cup finals.
Great post Red Claw…. I am glad you liked the post!
Novak played some insane GODKOVIC tennis in the last 2 days! I think we can safely say he has sent a strong message for 2014 to not just Rafa but the entire field.
I would hope youngsters like Dimitrov and Janowicz will step it up too next year.
What a great way to finish off things. Though Nole has the small matter of Davis Cup to attend to…. 🙂
Redclaw, glad to see another Djokovic fan on this site! I feel certain that he will recapture the spot next year. And I hope to see him beat Nadal at the French Open. Actually, it does look like Nadal might lose to someone else too. The more Nadal improves on hardcourts, the more susceptible he becomes on clay since it is tough to play aggressively on hardcourts and then change back to being defensive on clay.