By
FOLKERT HESSE
Roger Federer suffered a really hard loss yesterday against Novak Djokovic and finished the last Grand Slam of the year in the semi finals, a very disappointing end of the Grand Slam season 2010 for him.
But what might be the end of the Federer reign, might be the start of an even more dominant leader of the pack for the next years to come. Rafael Nadal will not only end this years rankings as No. 1, but he might be the first player in history to have double as many points as the no. 2 player.
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| Rafael Nadal |
And that shows how much he improved his game over the past years. While Roger Federer was not able to improve his backhand and his return game, Nadal worked with the same intensity on the weaker parts of his game, as he does in every match he plays on tour. He improved his serve speed, his backhand, the depth of his shots and his net game. And most importantly he is playing closer to the baseline which allows him to end the points quicker and make him move less. With his new and more aggressive game style he finishes his opponents faster and saves a lot of energy and therefore has fewer injuries.
The hard work and the courage to make some changes in his game and with his strings paid off and now he is in the US-Open final for the first time. And I am sure he won’t be there for the last time, if he stays healthy and keeps working on his game like he did. What will happen to Roger Federer remains to be seen and his fans can only hope that he will not blame and injury or illness for his loss, like he did after Wimbledon. If he is not willing to improve and work on his game anymore, he might not win another major. And then I can see Rafael Nadal passing him and winning more than 16 Grand Slams.
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| A disappointed Federer at the press conference after his loss to Djokovic |
I am sure Nadal will win his 9th Grand Slam title today, even though some stats might indicate a very close match between him and Novak Djokovic. But when it comes to the big matches on the big stage, Rafa was always there and was able to play at his best. But more than that he is able to will his way to success, and that is something that he does better than anybody else. Better than Novak Djokovic, even though Novak is in great form, holds a 7-4 hard court record against Nadal, won the last 3 meetings of the two, has the game-style to beat him on hard courts and should be loaded with confidence after defeating Federer.
But Nadal will be the fitter player, because he had much more time to recover after his semi-final win over Youzhny and has spent less time on the hard courts of New York so far. On top of that he has some other stats in his favor, that point him out as the favorite in this match. Nadal was broken only twice in more than 90 service games he played at the Open. He had 37 aces to the 22 of Djokovic, had only 11 double faults to Novak’s 24 and saved 88% of the break points against him compared to the 72% of Djokovic. So, he is clearly the better server in this match-up, which hasn’t been the case in the previous meetings. The stats on the return games are almost even. Both players are considered the best return players on the men’s tour and have proven it once more in this tournament.
But the key to Nadal winning tonight will be his new aggressive game, which makes him less vulnerable to the Djokovic offence. Nadal will not give him the opportunity anymore to take his balls on the rise and hit winners from both wings, because his serve is much better now and he himself takes the balls on the rise and gives Djokovic less time to get in position for winners.
So, I think we will see the Spaniard taking his first, but for sure not last, US-Open crown today. And this will make him the youngest career grand slam champion (winning all 4 slams) in history and only the second player in history to win 3 slams in a row in the same calendar year (after Laver).
And hopefully Roger will not quit and come back strong next year to challenge him…
FOLKERT HESSE
HESSE TENNIS TRAINING
High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals
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| Folkert Hesse Tennis |
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