Tennis Chatter

In my post yesterday, I predicted that Federer, Stepanek, Djokovic, and Nadal would win their matches in the Rogers Cup quarterfinals. Guess what? Federer, Stepanek, Djokovic, and Nadal won their matches in the Rogers Cup quarterfinals (although my predictions were off on the set counts somewhat). The semifinal match ups are as follows: Federer vs. Stepanek and Nadal vs. Djokovic. Federer should win his match easily, however the Nadal vs. Djokovic match up is much more interesting. Both players are very young and are viewed to be the future of tennis.

This year Nadal and Djokovic have played each other five times. In those matches Nadal was 4-1. However if you remove clay from the picture, head to head this year Nadal leads 2-1. Two of those matches were on hard court (Indian Wells and Miami) and one of them on grass (Wimbledon). In fact I’d say you could remove the Wimbledon match, because Djokovic had to retire due exhaustion and injury after winning the first set. Clearly Nadal and Djokovic match up very well off of clay. Both of them are very strong off of the ground and can move forward to the net. I’d say Djokovic has a better serve and backhand (very close), while Nadal might edge Djokovic in the forehand category (although not by much, especially off of clay). Both are similar at the net, yet Nadal is undeniably better at passing shots. Finally Nadal has an advantage with his mentality. Despite this, I’m picking Djokovic to win this match, and I think he’ll hold a winning record against Nadal on hard courts throughout his career. Hard courts neutralize some of Nadal’s spin potential and they don’t offer the variability of natural surfaces that Nadal is so good at reacting to. Regardless of who wins, this should be a great match and preview many more to come.