As I predicted Djokovic raised his level today for the final but what I didn’t expect was how high he would raise it. It was a mindblowing performance with Djokovic making 75% first serves and having a winner to unforced error ratio of 30-13.
That wasn’t only the highest level of tennis I have ever seen from Djokovic but from anyone. He quickly raced to a 3-0 lead after breaking Nadal and from there on just kept slapping winners almost at will to crush him 6-1, 6-2.
That is as close as anything to perfection you will ever see on a tennis court. Just very few unforced errors while taking huge cuts at the ball hitting winner after winner. Just when you think tennis can’t be played at a higher level Djokovic takes it up a notch.
For the people who doubted Djokovic and didn’t think he could keep his level from 2015 up this will be quite a rude awakening because today Djokovic played at a higher level than at any time during 2015.
If he keeps this level up he will win the calendar slam with ease, but it’s impossible to play this well all the time. At the very least it will send a strong message to his rivals who harbor any thoughts of dethroning him in Melbourne this year.
A special trophy for Djokovic whose late grandfather called him ‘Falcon’
The holiday is officially over. Djokovic is back to business and he isn’t taking anything for granted. He will just be focused 0n the next match and on playing his best tennis. If he does that you’d figure he will be tough to stop.
This was Djokovic’s 60th title and 12th title in 12 months. Pretty dominant stuff and it sets him up as a firm favorite in Melbourne. It’s kinda scary to think what Djokovic can do in Melbourne in this form and it makes things more exciting going into the first slam of the year.
As for Nadal, he was made to look like a Futures level player by Djokovic but he would have done that to anyone today. It’s fun to see Nadal getting crushed like that with his negative retrieving game.
Nadal’s plan was to serve big and play aggressive but with the way Djokovic was returning and crushing the ball his only option was to revert back to his relentless retrieving while Djokovic was happy to boss him around the baseline like a headless chicken.
Very satisfying viewing indeed. It’s like I said in my last post if Djokovic plays at a decent level there is nothing Nadal can do. Djokovic is just too complete while Nadal is limited. Djokovic now leads the head-to-head for the first time(24-23).
He has also utterly owned him in their last 10 meetings leading 9-1 now.
Swiss Boys Into Finals of Brisbane and Chennai
So it wasn’t to be for Thiem as he went down 6-1, 6-4 to Federer but I saw that one as a freebie and still a very good week for him. As for Federer, it must have been an improved performance from the Dimitrov match but we will see what happens in the final.
I didn’t watch the match but Federer plays fast and that doesn’t really suit Thiem’s game with his big swings. Federer can certainly make things awkward for Thiem in a variety of way with his experience and variety.
So I’m hopeful that Thiem can do well in Melbourne while Federer plays Raonic tomorrow who defeated Tomic in two tiebreaks. Tomic is a very good player in Australia so that is a good win for Raonic who looks to be back close to his best.
You’d expect Federer to win the title but who knows. It is not a foregone conclusion.
Finally, Stan will play teenager Coric in the final of Chennai. You’d expect Stan to win as well but Coric is a very promising youngster so who knows. Maybe he can cause the big upset.
The
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