Nadal, Federer and Djokovic: The best of rivalries!

Sometimes, a walk down memory lane reminds me of the boredom and monotony of a two player rivalry which seemed to go on like a saga stretched over four grand slams through out the year. “It is either Rafa or Fed Ex who is going to win, what is the whole point of even watching tennis” is what my non-tennis fan friends used to say! I had a different opinion and always watched the contest with constant amazement and awe since quality tennis is something that appealed to my senses!

Then came Novak Djokovic, the ex-number 3 seed, who blew the whole of the tennis fan community away like a tornado which came out of the blue. The Serbian won 3 out of the 4 grand slams in 2011 to capture the number 1 spot and by doing this, he showed the whole world that being consistent at the top does reap rich rewards in the long run. Along the way, he defeated the likes of Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal in the finals to conquer the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. He became a nightmare for both Rafael Nadal and his fans, consistently defeating the former world number one. However, when he was matched against Roger the story is slightly complex, Novak has suffered continuous losses against Roger. But in 2011, he ended up beating Roger in both the semi-finals of the US Open and the Australian Open!

To be honest the rising of Novak has caused both Nadal and Federer to make subtle changes to their game and improve on many levels because of the changes. Rafa who was pure, solid power player all the way through now faces a challenge. He is pitted against a player who is equally good with his ground strokes, fore-hand and boasts of a better serve as well. It is often remarked that to win a point against Nadal one has to actually do as much for winning 2 or 3 against any other player. Djoker however has shown that with his resilience he can counter Nadal. Federer known for his class is also in danger of consistently falling short of a winning performance, becaue Novak counters Federer with a class of his own which involve a variety of backhand strokes, volleys accompanied with stability in the rally.

Nadal has made it clear that he is still very much in the contest by winning the French Open in 2011, 2012 and finishing runner up to Novak in 3 other grand slams. Roger on the other hand has slightly jeopardized his spot at the top by winning just one grand slam and finishing in the semis in the other two this year. The contest for the top spot however will be keenly contested for and it will add some real spice to the world of tennis! Here are the statistics if you still doubt this:

Federer vs Nadal: Nadal Leads 18-10

Federer vs Djokovic: Federer leads 16-12

Nadal vs Djokovic: Nadal leads 19-14

However each player has his own shortcomings as well. Nadal, for example, is injury-prone and due to this, at times, he has to miss out on major Grand Slams and even competitions like the Olympics. Roger, on the other hand, does not have age on his side and it is common talk among the tennis fraternity that his time on court is nearing its end. Novak’s consistency is being questioned as he has failed to replicate the performance he has shown in 2011 and his performance at the Olympics has come under the scanner of the tennis experts.

However, all this put aside for an avid tennis fan, these three gentlemen have provided some quality action. For a contest to be interesting it is always good to have more than 2 players in the fray, and the rise of Novak has done just that. The tennis action that happens today is dramatic, interesting and is of very high quality indeed. With Andy Murray winning gold at the London Olympics midst the home crowd and Juan Martin Del Potro stretching Fed Ex to the very edge of his fitness limits one only expects the competition to get tougher from here on and the number of competitors vying for that top spot to increase.

One thing what makes Novak so special and the center of attraction today in the tennis world is that he broke the dead lock when two players of humongous amounts of talent were battling it out for the top spot. This comes as a ray of hope for today’s tennis to prosper in particular and for the world of tennis to reach greater heights in general!