Today marks the culmination of the French Open 2012. The final will be historic irrespective of the outcome. Two players, two finest specimens of the sports are going to clash today in an epic battle.
Novak Djokovic will be challenging Rafael Nadal - the undisputed emperor of the Clay Court in his quest to become the 1st person to hold all the four Open titles at the same time. A feat which has not been achieved in the last 43 years.
Rafa meanwhile is on a quest of his own. He's on a mission to become the first and probably the only player to win the French Open 7 times beating Bjorn Bjorg' s record. Nadal' s status as the clay court emperor is impeccable. He has won 51/52 matches in the previous years at the Open. The only aberration being Robin Soderling who defeated Nadal in last years French Open and finally opened the door for Federer to win his first and probably only French Open crown.
The last time Nadal and Djokovich met in an Open' s final the fans were treated to an epic final worth its weight in gold. Today if Djokovich is able to even trouble Nadal and upset his game a bit then it will be worth watching coz thats how good Nadal is on clay.
Nadal credentials on clay court have no peer. Indeed he looks effortless in his play. So good has been his formthat he has not dropped a single set in the tournament so far. His victory over Ferrer was so dominating that Ferrer was made to look plebeian by comparison. Rafa's strength lies in his ability to spin the ball more than average on the returns. While the standard norm is around 2700 rpms Rafa manages to get a return back at 3300 rpms, this 600+ rpms are what makes the difference as its difficult for the opponent to generate the power required to send it back as each shot thuds into the racquet with enough force like an heavyweight boxer doling out a punch.
That said Djokovich is no easy opponent either, with a slim and trim form, standing at 6.2" the strength for Novak is his exceptional ground eating strides and his ability to play shots on the run. Never have I seen a player play shots on the run and get them right even at extreme angles. It is a skill reminiscent of Federer at his best. Also the point going for Djokovich is that he has been able to defeat Nadal on almost all surfaces except clay and will be fancying his chances after displacing Nadal as No.1. As Djokovich said in his recent interview, "Apart from the fact that I have not been able to take a single set off Nadal in the previous matches on clay, I'm still coming into the tournament on my best form and I guess it should serve me well"
The big fight is on and as I mentioned earlier History is about to be made in Tennis irrespective of who wins. With the dice so heavily loaded in Nadals favor Djokovic will need a miracle, but then miracles are what the Djoker is capable of as we have seen in the previous finals. Let the title be decided and may the best man win.
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