Rafa vows to train until he beats Djoko

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/interactive/video/index.html?promo=home

To be frank, as always a good presso by Rafa. No excuses and determination to get the deficit overturned.

What do you think guys as what Rafa will require to do to overturn this mental challenge? Andy Murray says that he knows how to play this guy but hasn't been able to turn the tables. Is this going to be the same result with Rafa or not?

Even as a confirmed anti Nadalista; I have to say very good fight to somehow pull that 3rd set off the champ. Nadal will probably be working on keeping the rallies down to 4-5 shots per avg. instead of what was 7-8 per point in last nights match; he won't beat Novak by waiting for him to flake away like Murray does against him!

Well Andy is no Rafa

He has no options.

If he responds by trying to run harder he'll blow up at some point.

If he tries to shorten rallies by taking more risks he'll lose (the way Fed did in RG '08 when knowing he couldn't run at all he tried to hit winners all the time).

I genuinely admire his spirit but this is what happens when a good player comes through who has the privilige of developing his game to overcome the #1.
It's why it's so lame to assume that the new player is "better", because if the roles were reversed maybe the young Nadal would be engineering his game to overcome Djokovic. The man on top is the one there to be shot down.

true but last 10 h2h against Nole tells a different story. Before the match Djoko said that he is playing good enough tennis to beat rafa.
Rafa mentioned his past losses and said that he has a tactic but whether he will be able to implement that. Djoko has planted a doubt in rafa's mind. It will be very very tough for rafa to come out of it.

Rafa has managed to win like 4 sets in past 10 matches against nole and i am sure that none of them were comfortable wins. To win a set against djoko he had to use up all his energy and even then scoreline was 7-6.

rafa could overturned it if he could have made changes to his game, he plays too physical and it will be difficult for him to sort djoko out.

my verdict is that it ain't gonna happen (rafa's turn around).

I'm all ears when people say Nadal will have to do somethig diffrerent.

Exactly what is this thing they think he'll do differently?

It reminds me the time of Mecir versus the Swedish moonballing troop.

At the time no one coudl handle those swedish moonballers as most players had single HBH at the time and were not as fit. Wilander, Sundstrom, Nystrom, all with the same moonballing game..more or less. And then comes Mecir with his DHBH and hammers them all one after the other with great ease.

Journalist asks him how he does it? "Easy, they all have the same game with little variation. You can beat one you can beat them all"!

Nadal's solution to this problem is to get fitter and be like Road Runner chasing down every ball? Has he not already done that most recently last night? That's hardly a solution or a tactic in my opinion. That great physicality he possess has won him 10 slams but it not going to work now. Any opponent would have been run out of town the way he moved yesterday. No player could have kept up with that with maybe the exception of Davydenko firing on all cylinders.

Nadal needs to start winning these matches with what's between the ears not brute strength. He needs to be a tactician and out smart not out play Djokovic. I have always maintained that if not for Nadal's physical abilities he would have been an average player. A great tactician he is not or at least to me anyway. He will keep hammering away when under the cosh hoping to break down his opponents resistance without a change up of tactics as seen against Tsonga at the AO 08 and with Soderling at FO 09.

Not entirely fair, I did see Rafa slicing the ball a lot.

The way to beat Djokovic has been shown by Federer this year; he did it at the French and was within a hairs breadth of doing it again here.

It takes power, variety, aggression and taking the ball very early. Even at 30 he has shown that this can counter the staggering level of retrieval and fitness as well as control of shot that Djokovic has.

All the younger players have to do is copy that.

How many of the next generation do you think can actually do that though BB.

None. Federer is a freak of nature. Another is out there but my concern is that with the game going the way it is that player will never pick up a racquet, or make it past juniors.

The game is being wrecked not just for now, but far more damagingly for the future because the ultra-talented may as well do something else. The next John McEnroe or Roger Federer may be out there now as a 12 year old, but he'll do something else rather than consign himself to run around for 4 hours chasing down a pair of lungs on legs.

I saw Dolgopolov's match with Novak and figure his unique game might hold up.

bogbrush wrote:None. Federer is a freak of nature.

More so the pity he didn't win more slams or have a positive h2h over Nadal. Certain players such as himself come along once in a way. Let's not forget he went through long periods without a proper coach (just Mirka ) and won slams too.

Its not entirely impossible to copy him. Players will have to from an early age if they are to come close.

But what will happen in my view is that in 2 years those youngsters will be all as fit as Djoko more or less of course and that talent will again make a bigger impact on the outcome of a match.


Currently we have, as BB says, a freak of nature Federer, and 3 very physical players who can almost guarantee through their superior fitness to reach the later stages of slams. We don;t have "upsets" anymore as we used to have when talent was more of an important factors cause back then you coudl have a bad day at teh office. Now if you are fit, there is no bad day at the office. You can of course encounter an attacking player having a great day but pulling 3 set winners v guys like Djoko and Nadal is a bloody tough task, even for someone having a good day at the office.

Dlogo is the most exciting player to watch but like I mentioned at MTL he suffers from a syndrome which makes him fatigue and makes the travelling very difficult for him. He needs to take medication and special diet to stay fit. He will never be as fit as the mean machines BB has mentioned. So not much hopes for him, which is a shame.

wow wrote:Dlogo is the most exciting player to watch but like I mentioned at MTL he suffers from a syndrome which makes him fatigue and makes the travelling very difficult for him. He needs to take medication and special diet to stay fit.

That could be a blessing nowadays. It can give you access to the best drugs to "re-energise" you with the consent of WADA.