World Number 1 Rafael “Rafa” Nadal and World Number 3 Novak “Nole” Djokovic will go head to head on Wednesday, in their second Group B round robin match of the tournament.
Both players managed victories in their first round robin matches, with Nadal scoring a victory over American Number 1 Andy Roddick and Djokovic defeating Czech Number 1 Tomas Berdych.
This year, Rafael Nadal has been leading the title race by a huge margin. He has amassed seven trophies this year, namely the Monte Carlo Masters where he defeated Fernando Verdasco, in the Rome Masters, which he battled David Ferrer for, the Madrid event against Roger Federer, the French Open where finished Robin Soderling’s Roland Garros dream.
He won Wimbledon against Tomas Berdych, the US Open against Novak Djokovic, and the ATP Tokyo event where he fought Gael Monfils to win.
In contrast, Novak Djokovic is running on two titles this year; the ATP Dubai event where he defeated Mikhail Youzhny in the final, and the Beijing tournament where he faced David Ferrer to become champion.
Rafael Nadal finally put a stop to his four match losing streak at the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals with a win over the American World Number 8 Andy Roddick, in his first WTF match on Monday.
Nadal has recently accomplished a remarkable feat which has silenced many critics who felt that the player was overhyped. He won the 2010 US Open to become the seventh man to complete a career Grand Slam. This was a challenging and significant victory for Rafa, who has admitted that for him the US Open hard court is the most challenging surface. Although, he may have lost some of his trademark rollercoaster steam at the end of the year, that is only due to the fact that he entered this ATP World Tour Finals on the back of a painful case of tendinitis, which forced him to drop out of the Paris Masters. Despite this, he has had a magnificent year.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, who has been met with success at the World Tour Finals once before in Shanghai, has also been in great form, despite a disappointing start to the season. He has suffered from many inconvenient losses, before he regained his former grace in Europe.
He finished Roland Garros and Wimbledon with quarter-final and semi-final appearances, and also outdid Roger Federer at the US Open in order to compete against Nadal in his second final at Flushing Meadows.
He successfully defended his Beijing title and gave himself a substantial boost in confidence for upcoming events. He has also transformed his game and strategy, and has had favourable results.
The two players have faced each other 22 times before, and Nadal has a clear advantage at 15 victories to Djokovic’s 7. The Spanish player also won their New York challenge at the US Open, while Djokovic defeated him at the 2009 World Tour Finals.
Nadal is, because of his current strong position and previous record, more likely to win the match. However, it will definitely be a tough draw, with Djokovic possibly fighting to three sets.
Courtesy: Bettor
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