Any clash of the top two tennis player is the best one at any time. The clashes of Nadal and Djokovic have upped the ante. On Sunday at Miami, in the final of Sony open, they met against each other for record 40th time.
In this clash of the titans, Nadal has a slight edge by 22-18. Nadal is ‘King of Clay.’ Djokovic is better at hard court winning 14 of their 21 meetings. In Grand slams Djokovic has negative record of 3-8. In fact they have played 6 GS finals together and have 3 wins each.
The top most rivalry in previous decade of the century meant matches between Federer and Nadal. Now age is fast catching up the Swiss. Murray is not as good as he was a year before. At present, Nadal and Djokovic are the best tennis players. So for tennis fans, their matches always present a delight.
It began in 2006. The stage was French open Quarter final. Nadal was in devastating form in those days and Djokovic was a star in the making. Nadal won the contest but at the end, the Serbian said that he has learnt a few things about Nadal. Djokovic vowed to apply those in the coming games.
In 2010, the rivalry got traction. The meeting held in the final of U S Open. Nadal completed his career Grand Slam there. Then on, they extended it to cities and tournaments around the world.
In 2011, the pair played 4 ATP masters finals at Indian Wales, Miami, Madrid and Rome. Djokovic won all 4 of them. Novak also proved his superiority on clay by defeating Rafael in the last two. Djoko defeated him in final of Wimbledon and U S Open in the same year.
2012 began with victory for Djokovic at Melbourne. At Rolland Gaross, Nadal defeated the Serb. They played in final of Monte Carlo and Rome and Nadal won both of the meetings.
Nadal won Monte Carlo Masters event for record 8 times consecutively between 2005 to 2012. No player has won same tournament for so many times. It was Djokovic who broke Nadal’s record grip on Monte Carlo Masters in 2013. He also ended his 46 match winning streak there. In final of U S open in 2013, Nadal took revenge of it.
Both the players have played some of the best matches of tennis history. 2009 Madrid masters Semi Final was the longest match of Masters series history. As per Bjorn Borg, Semi final of 2013 French Open was the best match played on clay court. 2012 Australian open final is regarded as the best match played on Hard court by many tennis pundits and players. That match lasted for record 5 hours 53minutes. The dogfight of that match was talk of all social media at that time. Djokovic declared the result of that match as his greatest victory and Nadal as his greatest loss.
Djokovic was humble as ever after the win at Miami. He stressed that rivalry with Nadal has improved him. Most of the matches were thrilling and decided by a few points.
The rivalry has a lot of record to it’s credit. Both have played 21 masters matches against each other which is a record. This is the only rivalry of open era which has featured in all 4 Grand Slam and all 9 ATP 1000 Masters finals.
Now the ATP Masters event will move to clay courts in Europe. Nadal has edge there. French Open will be the ultimate test of the best. May the rivalry go on.