Djokovic’s comeback faces its sternest test, again.
Djokovic’s comeback story continues as he faces Rafa in the semifinals of Wimbledon. With an increasingly convincing set of performances in the past week, can Djokovic go one step further?
While his sternest test could be pinned back to his semifinal against Rafa in Rome, clay being Rafa’s strongest surface, Rafa making his way to his first semifinal in Wimbledon since 2011 in itself warrants this to be one of the sternest tests Novak can face. Nadal has done well in his way to the semifinals, dispatching his first four opponents comfortably in straight sets before a 5 set epic against Juan Martin Del Potro.
The same cannot be said about Djokovic, who hasn’t been pushed to 5 sets and has lost a lone set in the quarterfinals against Nishikori.
Tough odds
Both Rafa and Novak enter the semifinals in great form. Rafa has performed admirably, especially in his match against Del Potro. The same could be said about Djokovic, dispatching Kyle Edmund, Karen Khachanov and Kei Nishikori, all of whom are difficult opponents.
An important point to note is that both Rafa and Nova have been broken a fair share, and while they have broken back in several occasions, their serves will be the deciding factor in their matches today. While Rafa’s serve has been steadily improving through the rounds, Novak’s had the opposite happen to him, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
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Mental game
Both Rafa and Novak have been solid in the mental side of the sport (more or less), and this will be the sternest test they will be facing in a slam in a long time. While it can be argued that Novak is in better form, one must remember the brutal losses Rafa has faced in Novak’s hands: Remember, Novak is the only player to have beaten Rafa in all slams, and some of them have been heartbreaking for Rafa: 2012 Australian Open in particular, as well as all those 2011 final losses (in both slams and masters tournaments). It’ll be interesting to see if Rafa plays without inhibition, or restrained because of all those losses.
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Current win-loss
This will be their 52nd meeting, with Djokovic leading 26-25. While Rafa has won their previous two meetings, both those meetings were on clay, and their last meeting on grass was in the 2011 Wimbledon final, which Djokovic won. Nadal leads 2-1 on grass, and with their last meeting having occurred so long ago, it is truly difficult to predict how this one will go about, among other listed reasons. Djokovic’s mental game is still a little questionable due to his struggles being as recent as 2 months ago, but if he rises to the occasion there’s no reason to say he can’t win, while Rafa has not lost in the semifinals of Wimbledon in his entire career. And on and on it goes.
Prediction?
It’s a toss-up, but expect a very tight and competitive match, perhaps the best of the season. Whoever wins is very likely to win the title as well, so let’s see what happens.