It’s world Number one and two today, as Rafeal Nadal battle Djokovic? for the Australian crown.Nadal will be looking to break his recent run of poor result against Djokovic as the Serbian has beaten him in the last six games all in the final.Rafael Nadal had a dominant 2010 winning three Grand Slams – French,Wimbledon and the US Opens while Djokovic repeated the same feat last year, wining three Grand Slams apart from the French Open? which Nadal won.
Novak Djokovic secured his place in the Australian Open final by beating British number one Andy Murray in a thrilling encounter. While Rafa Nadal defeated familiar foe, Roger Federer and he is? full of confidence, heading into this encounter.
Djokovic is looking to win his second straight Australian Open, his third straight grand slam dating back to 2011, to put an exclamation point on his position as the No. 1 player in the world.
Nadal will try to capture his second Australian Open championship. His lone victory came in 2009 when he defeated Federer. It would also be his 11th career Grand Slam title, tying him with Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg for fourth on the all-time list. Roger Federer still lead the pack with 16 Grand Slam titles. Djokovic said : “To be honest, I think I matured as a player. I started to believe on the court I could win majors,” he said.
“Rafa and Roger are the most dominant players for the last seven, eight years. … It was very hard to take away the titles from them. They will not give you the titles. You have to earn it.
“I’m extremely delighted to be in the final,” Djokovic said. “What can be a bigger challenge than playing against Rafa Nadal, one of the greatest players ever. He is now aiming to be only the fifth man in the Open Era started in 1968 to win three straight majors — only Rod Laver, Pete Sampras. Meanwhile, Nadal, who injured his knee prior to the tournament, said: “Sunday afternoon, 24 hours to play my first match, I was in my room crying because I believed I didn’t have the chance to play in Melbourne.
“So, it was a very, very tough situation for me, those hours.
“Two weeks later, I am here in the finals, so it is a dream for me because I had very bad expectations 24 hours before the first match, and now two weeks later I am playing well. I am in the final.
“Always playing Grand Slam finals is very good news. I’ve been in the last four Grand Slam finals so it is a great effort I think.”
Keys for Nadal Win
Djokovic is going to be playing on pure adrenaline at this point, so it will be imperative for Nadal to take advantage of that by forcing him to run around early and often to wear him down.
Both of these players have great stamina, but Nadal is coming in on more rest and will be fresh when this match starts.
In addition to that, it will be imperative for him to use his great court coverage and use the forehand to set up his defense.
Keys for Djokovic Win
Ride the adrenaline wave, be able to return Nadal’s big serve and use the backhand shot as often as possible.
Whenever you doubt Djokovic, he comes out and does something that you don’t think possible. He has established himself as the best player in the world today. He will need every