It has been an amazing 13 days of mesmerizing tennis played on the grandest stage of tennis, Wimbledon. And now we have come to the Grand Finale where two current best players will play each other tomorrow to determine the Champion. It’s going to be a battle between the present world no.1 Rafael Nadal and the future world no.1 Novak Djokovic (come Monday).
More than the championship on the line, it will be a battle of minds too. Djokovic will be eager to stamp his authority as No.1 and prove to the world that he can defeat Nadal at Grand Slams too. Until now the record has been 0-5. But with the renewed confidence of the only player this year to defeat Nadal 4 times in a row, he will be raring to go and continue his dominance this year (47-1). Whereas Nadal will be determined to make it 5 out of 6 Grand Slams and not let Nole take the psychological advantage again.
Rafael Nadal who before French Open was in doubts about his confidence after facing back to back loss to Djokovic is back to his destructive self after winning his 6th French Open title and cruising to the finals of the All England Club this time. He is currently 20-0 in Wimbledon and has reached this year in his 5th Wimbledon Final. He has been playing impeccable tennis this summer determined to increase his tally of grand slams to 11 (which would tie him with Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg).
Lets have a look at the stats until now in Wimbledon (including semifinals):
Statistics | Nadal | Djokovic |
1st Serve % | 402/577=70% | 387/572=68% |
Unforced Errors | 60 | 99 |
Winning % on 1st Serve | 319/402=79% | 303/387=78% |
Winning % on 2nd Serve | 104/175=59% | 110/184=60% |
Winners | 244 | 199 |
Receiving Points Won | 254/658=39% | 265/638=42% |
Break Point Conversions | 27/55=49% | 30/68=44% |
Nadal has won 79% of his first serve points with only 60 unforced errors in 5 matches. He has 244 winners as compared to 199 by Djokovic until now. This will be a sign of worry for Nole, if he has to win tomorrow; he will have to come out firing winners.
Djokovic in turn has won 42% of the receiving points and 68 break points opportunities in last 5 matches. No wonder he is the best returner in the game. This is what Nadal will have to be careful about: hold on to his serve against the best returner.
Overall it will be a fascinating encounter to watch these the two athletes ready to give their best to leave a mark on the history. Who knows tomorrow history repeats itself and Nole does to Nadal what Nadal did to Federer in 2008 epic final.
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Also:Novak Djokovic:New World No.1: How he joined the league of Federer/Nadal
Follow ApekshaHA on Twitter for Latest Updates: http://twitter.com/#!/ApekshaHA
Also:Novak Djokovic:New World No.1: How he joined the league of Federer/Nadal