Novak Djokovic’s double fault trouble against Rafael Nadal – Tennis Special
Reigning world number one, Novak Djokovic, played a great match against the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, in the French Open final on the last Sunday and Monday.
The Serbian posed a serious challenge to the emperor of Roland Garros by winning eight successive games during the third and fourth set. When rain stopped play for the second and final time on Sunday, Djokovic was 2-1 and a break
up in the fourth set. However, he could not withstand a charged up Nadal on Monday, losing the encounter and chance to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time.
However, the way French Open title match ended was a shame for the Serbian. Facing the first match point against him, the top ranked committed a double fault to the surprise of all the viewers. A match between the top two players
in the world, contested with such high class tennis, should not have ended that way.
Nadal and Djokovic hit and returned some unbelievable shots, at a level of play that sometimes tennis fans think that humans cannot maintain but the way Djokovic faltered under pressure was unexpected.
This is not for the first time that the five-time Grand Slam winner has done this against Nadal during this season. Just a couple of weeks before the start of French Open, he lost the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final against the
Spaniard by committing a double fault at match point.
Djokovic made four double faults in the French Open final. Other than the match point one, two more were hit on break points. Just when the right-hander had captured three straight games to level the score at 3-3 in the first set,
he went down again by committing a double fault on break point. Then again in the opening game of the second set, Djokovic gifted another advantage to his opponent by hitting a double fault when he faced the threat.
All this shows that Djokovic’s mental strength has gone down in the recent past. He has done well under pressure against other players on the ATP World Tour but he has started to falter against the Spanish star.
When Nadal was asked about this, the most humble player on the tour replied, “Seriously, if I say something wrong about Novak probably gonna be a big mistake, because don’t forget that he won in Australia, he won in Miami, played
semi-finals in Indian Wells losing 7-6 in the third, playing final in Monte Carlo and final in Rome and final here.”
The Spaniard added, “So his season has been great, and the double faults, that’s only coincidence, in my opinion. Don’t forget that last year he saved unbelievable match in the semi-finals of US Open. This year he saved two unbelievable
matches at semi-finals of Australian Open and final of Australian Open.”
Nadal may defend his closest rival but it is a fact that Nadal’s recent wins against the Serbian have settled in the latter’s mind and continuously troubling him. Djokovic’s invincibility period during which he beat the Spaniard
in seven consecutive finals has now ended and its Nadal’s turn to take revenge from the Serbian.
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