Djokovic's most important victory over Nadal in 2011?

First topic message reminder :

A remarkable season of tennis, especially for Novak, has drawn to a close and inevitably a time of reflection ensues.
A dominating 6-0 head to head this season has left a visibly shaken and deflated Rafa pondering how on earth he can beat his great rival. In their meetings the physicality on display has been brutal to the point where at the US nadal could barely walk! But what was the most important victory for novak over rafa in 2011?

There are several ways to determine this in order of importance so here goes.

1) Indian wells: 4-6 6-3 6-2 - Novak's first victory over rafa in 2011. After initially struggling against the spaniard, the serb found his game superbly and played magnificentally, especially in the final set, to overpower Nadal. It could be argued this was a sign of things to come as he went toe to toe with the world no1 and seemed to find a balance between consistency, aggression and tactical astuteness. This laid the foundations for his wins over rafa as he found a game plan to regularly beat him.
Verdict: Though it was important, I believe this wasn't a defining victory for Novak and was perhaps the least important of his 2011 wins.

2) Miami: 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) - This proved that his previous victory was no fluke and incredibly outlasted Nadal in conditions that favoured Nadal on a slow court with high temperatures. Despite a first set wobble Novak again came from a set down to register his 2nd straight victory over rafa and in another masters final. It is one thing to have a plan to defeat someone, but to execute it consistently is an entirely different matter and once again Novak came up with the shots at crucial times, whereas rafa appeared to go into his shell after gaining a lead in the tiebreak. Novak had proven he was the best hardcourt player, but not many believed he would succeed on the spaniard's beloved clay.
Verdict: This for me was one of the most important victories of the year for novak as he 'out nadaled nadal' and this gave him even more confidence heading toward the clay court season.

3)Madrid: 7-5 6-4 - IMO this was the best display of novak's backhand prowess i have ever seen. It was also his first clay court victory over nadal which is perhaps one of the greatest tasks there is in tennis. After taking a 4-0 lead with metronomic ball striking and precision rafa fought back but was unable to prevent the serbinator from taking the first set and despite one of the best shots of the year (nadal's lob tweener) novak broke straight back after losing serve in the 2nd before bullying nadal into his first victory on the dirt. Despite being broken a few times, Novak always seemed in control creating 12 break point oppurtunities, double nadal's total.
Verdict: His first ever win over the spaniard on clay and only rafa's 17th loss on the surface. But this year Madrid was lightning fast and perhaps didnt suit rafa's game as well, but nonetheless a stunning victory, totally deserved and no doubt one of the biggest victories novak has ever registered.

4) Rome: 6-4 6-4 - Perhaps the most comprehensive of all Novak's 2011 victories over Rafa. 'Brutal dominance', to quote a youtube uploader, perfectly describes his victory here. Rafa had no excuses, no answers, no gameplan to combat novak's prowess here. Rafa tried fruitlessly to find a solution but all were met with an iron fist and quashed into submission. Rafa created just 3 BP's compared to Novak's 11 and hit just 15 winners to 22 UE's. Some journalists (Overend and the guardian's Kevin Mitchell) believed this was the most important victory as not only did it show novak could consistently beat rafa on hard and now clay, was the fact that never before had nadal been made to look so powerless to find the remedy to beat djokovic.
Verdict: In terms of the manner of the win this was the most convincing but had the groundwork already been made before this win? A fantastic result nonetheless and proved rafa is not quite invincible on the red stuff but was it the most important? I'm not sure.

5) Wimbledon: 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 - With Novak's no1 ranking already assured by his run to the final, pride was at stake for Rafa but once again Novak would not be denied. The 2nd set in particular was phenomenal as Novak didn't put a foot wrong and bulldozed a perplexed defending champion. Despite his concentration going awry in the 3rd he regained his composure to seal his first Wimbledon triumph which meant Novak had beaten on every surface the tour had to offer (bar indoor). Secondly nobody had ever beaten Nadal five times in a row (davydenko 4times) which is a monumental feat in itself and put a clear gap between the Djoker and the rest of the field.
Verdict: Proved he can win on any surface and Nadal seemed out of options and seemed to withdraw into his shell on the big moments with uncharacteristic errors becoming more frequent. The best moment of his career but in terms of victories over nadal in importance for the rest of the year and in the future again IMO it wasnt the most important but it was in terms of legacy as he had won his first slam away from Aus.

6) US Open: 6-2 6-4 (3)6-7 6-1 - Both men gave everything they had to offer in an exhausting display of stamina, power and a never say die attitude. Rafa could barely run in the final set, yet still gave his all, but ultimately it showed just how hard he had to work to win just 1 set. Though he accumulated 2-0 leads in both the first and second set he was unable to secure the breaks he'd made and eventually lost to Djokovic who received treatment on his shoulder and back (which later caused him to miss 6 weeks of the tour, something he never quite recovered from). Nadal seemed more positive in most of his other interviews after a defeat to Novak and he made a fantastic effort despite his serve deserting him not giving him the free points he received in abundance in the 2010 US Open.
Verdict: His first US Open win at the 3rd attempt, his 6th win over Nadal in a remarkable season but not the significant of his 2011 rafa victories.

Overall Verdict (Most important wins in order): Numbers (confidence) letters (importance)
1) Miami (d)
2) Rome (e)
3) Wimbledon (a)
4) Madrid (c)
5) US Open (b)
6) Indian Wells (f)
What are your thoughts?

What are you going on about in your last posts Simple Analyst?
I'm not really sure what your message is, and to who or what it is related.

Chydremion wrote:What are you going on about in your last posts Simple Analyst?
I'm not really sure what your message is, and to who or what it is related.

Will help if you pay more attention.

Simple_Analyst wrote:You seem lost in translation? So you thought Djokovic almost unplayable the whole year was a conincedence? If he wasn't playing incredibly well, he would have lost some of those matches. All you have to do is watch the matches which i doubt you did and look at the stats. Nadal for me this year did nothing special. His form was average almost throughtout the years and again the matches and stats will show this. 5 sets on clay against Isner at the FO. Seriously. Whether it was a lack of motivation or something else, Nadal was not as his best this year. After the USO win last year, he probably won almost everything he ever wanted. Djokovic in case caught everyone by suprise and especially Nadal. At first everyone thought he was just on a hot strek and his level of play will drop a bit but no. The level of consistency in his matches was almost unbelievable. His grounds strokers, his serving, speed, ability to attack and defend was simply outstanding.

We will see what happens next year. Maintain the consistency shown this year and he could as well win 3 slams. Let it drop of a bit the likes of Nadal will start beating him again. Even if not the case, we will see more focus, drive and determination from Nadal next year i believe. Remember Nadal's path to a career slam was not any tough for him. His greatest obstacle some will believe in getting there was Federer yet he made mockery of him in the slams he needed to get the career slam. Nadal needed to be challenged and i for one gets bored of watching the same player win everything and does not matter whether they are my favourite or not.

I've just seen some highlights from the Miami final, and let me tell you, that was vintage Nadal, at his best. Nole's confidence and the all-round improvement made all the difference. Check it out for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FFlfxOcyALg

the more hte year ore on and the losses increased, Nadal naturally lost the will to fight and made more errors.

Simple_Analyst wrote:Ah you see i even left out Dubai. So that's 4-1. Take out the FO slip out and you have a potential 5-0 season thrashing ala Nadal's 0-6 thrashing.

Oh, you mean that Federer was as much Nole's bitch as Nadal this year, so he too can't be a danger to Djokovic?

Well, while Nadal has fared worse and worse against Djokovic this year, completely looking impotent eventually, Federer has come closer and closer meanwhile. You artifically want to leave out FO to make it 5-0? Everyone knows that Federer should have won at the US Open which would have made the H2H a very close 3-2, with Djokovic winning on the slower hard courts while Fed on the faster playing stuff (FO played reasonably fast this year, although mainly due to the balls, but that doesnt really matter). If you look at Djokovic-Nadal and Djokovic-Federer matches this year (and yes, I've see them, in contrast to what you thought in an earlier comment), you'll see that game-wise Djokovic completely owns Nadal since Madrid, which is not the case against Federer (at least not on the faster stuff). Federer's serve is too good, even for Djokovic, to make meat out of it like Nadal's, and his slice can neutralize the Djoko backhand pretty well.

noleisthebest wrote:

Simple_Analyst wrote:You seem lost in translation? So you thought Djokovic almost unplayable the whole year was a conincedence? If he wasn't playing incredibly well, he would have lost some of those matches. All you have to do is watch the matches which i doubt you did and look at the stats. Nadal for me this year did nothing special. His form was average almost throughtout the years and again the matches and stats will show this. 5 sets on clay against Isner at the FO. Seriously. Whether it was a lack of motivation or something else, Nadal was not as his best this year. After the USO win last year, he probably won almost everything he ever wanted. Djokovic in case caught everyone by suprise and especially Nadal. At first everyone thought he was just on a hot strek and his level of play will drop a bit but no. The level of consistency in his matches was almost unbelievable. His grounds strokers, his serving, speed, ability to attack and defend was simply outstanding.

We will see what happens next year. Maintain the consistency shown this year and he could as well win 3 slams. Let it drop of a bit the likes of Nadal will start beating him again. Even if not the case, we will see more focus, drive and determination from Nadal next year i believe. Remember Nadal's path to a career slam was not any tough for him. His greatest obstacle some will believe in getting there was Federer yet he made mockery of him in the slams he needed to get the career slam. Nadal needed to be challenged and i for one gets bored of watching the same player win everything and does not matter whether they are my favourite or not.

I've just seen some highlights from the Miami final, and let me tell you, that was vintage Nadal, at his best. Nole's confidence and the all-round improvement made all the difference. Check it out for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FFlfxOcyALg

the more hte year ore on and the losses increased, Nadal naturally lost the will to fight and made more errors.

Agree. Nadal played some of his best tennis in Miami, where he crushed Federer. Nole won because he was mentally stronger, which was most clear to see in the final tiebreak.

Federer has come closer and closer meanwhile

Yah i know, get match points and still lose. Much closer. Reminds of of so near yet so far.

yessssss! people agreeing with me over the importance of miami!

Again I ask does anybody know any sporting blogs????

Simple_Analyst wrote:Ah you see i even left out Dubai. So that's 4-1. Take out the FO slip out and you have a potential 5-0 season thrashing ala Nadal's 0-6 thrashing.

Yes, great idea. Reverse the results and you get a different score.

Blimey, if a Federer fan was calling for the USO to be considered a toss-up you could at least understand their point but this is strange even by your standards.

I guess coming soon is the observation that if only Nadal could reverse those slip-ups he's have wiped Djokovic out in 2011?

Have no idea what Boggo is harping about.

Simple_Analyst wrote:Have no idea what Boggo is harping about.

Simple_Analyst wrote:Will help if you pay more attention.

LuvSports! wrote:yessssss! people agreeing with me over the importance of miami!

Again I ask does anybody know any sporting blogs????

There's somebody else who may agree with you on Miami....and it's a tennis blog...

http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2011/12/the-script-gets-flipped.html

Simple_Analyst wrote:

laverfan wrote:

Simple_Analyst wrote:Have no idea what Boggo is harping about.

Simple_Analyst wrote:Will help if you pay more attention.

Pay attention to Boggo's comment? That will be an all time low.

It already is an all time low .... and still responding to it.

that's 4-1. Take out the FO slip out and you have a potential 5-0 season thrashing ala Nadal's 0-6 thrashing.
___________________
Bah, Federer had 2 match points on the own serve at the US Open, and was it a 2 set lead? Should have been his match perhaps. Could have been 2-3 and certainly 0-5 not a fair reflection of the season. But maybe I'm falling into the trap of your wumming.

Henman Bill wrote:that's 4-1. Take out the FO slip out and you have a potential 5-0 season thrashing ala Nadal's 0-6 thrashing.
___________________
Bah, Federer had 2 match points on the own serve at the US Open, and was it a 2 set lead? Should have been his match perhaps. Could have been 2-3 and certainly 0-5 not a fair reflection of the season. But maybe I'm falling into the trap of your wumming.

If SA had his way, he would wipe out this and everything related to it - http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Roger-Federer.aspx

The sixth member of the 800+ wins club -

1) Jimmy Connors (USA) 1,242
2) Ivan Lendl (CZE/USA) 1,071
3) Guillermo Vilas (ARG) 923
4) John McEnroe (USA) 875
5) Andre Agassi (USA) 870
6) Roger Federer (SUI) 807

Well i was even more confident Federer will lose when he got match points. A leopard never changes it's spot. The match was never his to lose.

nitb thanks for the link but you don't know any general sports ones as im interested in football, rugby, cycling, athletics and cricket as well. You don't think i copied that from this tennis.com do you???