French Open Men’s Final Preview

The 2014 French Open men’s final will be played between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. This is the fifth encounter between the two at the French, and Nadal leads the series 5-0. Is there any reason to suggest this year’s result will be any different? The tennis review looks at the factors involved and predicts the result.

History:

In 2012, Djokovic was trying to become the first man to hold all four slam titles at once since Laver. Nadal got in his way. Last year, Djokovic led Nadal 4-1 in the fifth set when he was the no.1 seed only to lose. Nadal is the man to beat at the French and Djokovic  has yet to do it.

He has beaten Nadal four times on the Clay though, and all in ATP 1000 finals, too. And in his most recent victory in the Rome final, he played some of the best tennis of his career in the final two sets.

Form:

Djokovic has had the best form throughout the tournament-his beating of Tsonga and Raonic were more or less exhibitions-but his last match was a little alarming. Djokovic fell of the rails in the third against Gulbis, dropped the set and then smashed his racket in the fourth before squeaking through as Gulbis’ splayed errors around the court. Djokovic looked fatigued and was not reluctant to discuss what was wrong with him, saying only he was glad for the day’s rest.

Nadal meanwhile has gotten gradually better as the event has gone on, his showpiece display against Murray in which he lost only 6 games going down as one of his best ever performances.

With Djokovic’s condition dipping as Nadal peaks, Nadal has the slight edge here.

Games:

Nadal will look to be aggressive, serve big and get his forehand dictating from the get go. He will have to. If he serves anything less than at 70 percent, Djokovic will go for his returns and work the rallies to set up his flat backhand down the line.

This match might be decided at the net, a place where Becker must be proving to be worth every cent in the Djokovic camp. Djokovic has been coming in, and will need to against Nadal unless he wants to find himself scrambling for high bouncing balls far behind the baseline.

A high first serve percentage and an attacking mindset, and Djokovic will play the big points in the forecourt and at the net, and that, like it did in Rome, is his best chance of creating history. Anything else and a ninth title for Nadal will be what goes down in the history books post this season’s French Open.