Novak Djokovic has upped his game to an impossible level
Djokovic’s dominance in the Australian Open final against Rafael Nadal could spark further reconsideration of the GOAT discussion.
Sunday’s Australian Open final was supposed to be another all-time great match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, whose rivalry is the most prolific in tennis history. Anything less than five sets would have been shocking, even on Djokovic’s Australian turf. That, reader, did not happen.
Djokovic did pretty much everything right and forced Nadal into doing a lot of stuff wrong. The Serbian, who secured the world’s top ranking with his third straight major title, swept the floor with Rafa, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in about two hours flat. It was an utter masterclass. Djokovic won nearly 40 more total points than Nadal and broke serve five times, debilitating the Spaniard to the point that the match felt secured by the middle of the second set.
Rarely has anyone reached this level of tennis. That’s a common refrain when one of the Big Four dominates, but Djokovic was close to perfect. He sat back on the baseline and dared Nadal to retrieve a barrage of groundstrokes, which settled satisfyingly in the corners each time Djokovic put his racquet through a desperate, defensive Nadal return. Every Djokovic shot was aggressive and carefully placed.
Perhaps on a better day Nadal would have turned more of those Djokovic groundstrokes back with pace and spin. Sunday was not one of those days. Djokovic hit every one of his spots, with precious few errors or even slight mishits. He went to the net only to casually slam easy volley winners when the situation called for it.
Playing against Djokovic is like playing against a wall. His refined, powerful groundstrokes always come back faster than they leave, and if you manage to get ahead in a point, Djokovic has a way of getting a racquet to everything, elegantly sliding into the most extreme of open stances to flick shots past your service line, against all odds.
He did this to everyone else he played in this tournament. He lost just two sets (to young gun Denis Shapovalov and a tiebreaker against feisty Russian Daniil Medvedev) and annihilated first-time semifinalist Lucas Pouille, dropping four games total. Nadal, for his part, hadn’t lost a set at all going into the final, with impressively swift victories over a resurgent Tomas Berdych, American prodigy Francis Tiafoe and Next Gen Stefano Tsitsipas, who had beaten Roger Federer. Djokovic erased all of it.
His serve was at its usual point-winning level, but it wasn’t even extraordinarily dominant on its own. Djokovic finished with eight aces and actually won a higher percentage of points on his second serve (84 percent) than on his first (80 percent). Nadal struggled to generate neutral rallies, but when he did, Djokovic usually won them.
Djokovic’s return, by far the greatest the sport has ever seen, rebuked everything the recently-adjusted Nadal serve threw at it. The Serbian stood with one foot in the doubles alley in the ad court to intercept Nadal’s spin serves aimed at Djokovic’s backhand, forcing Rafa to produce body serves, which he failed to accomplish.
The greatest indication of Djokovic’s dominance was his unusually relaxed attitude. He smiled throughout the second set as he coasted to a double break. He turned serious in the last couple of games as he fought off a pair of last-minute tests from Nadal, but it was a shockingly calm performance from one of the most intense players on tour. Djokovic usually has at least one Nick Saban moment per match, bursting out in anger despite being in the middle of a blowout. He was so flawless that he pulled not one Saban.
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We’re at the point that Djokovic should be entering the GOAT discussion. Since losing the 2013 US Open final to Nadal, Djokovic is 13-3 against Rafa, including 8-0 on hard courts. Djokovic has won 25 of his 47 matches against Federer, including eight of their last 11. With 15 major titles at the age of 31 and a style that could sustain him for a long career, he could challenge Federer and Nadal’s Grand Slam totals.
The shoulder injury that robbed him of 2017 and the first half of 2018 doesn’t appear to be much of a concern. Djokovic is playing at a ridiculous level. Nadal, outside of an off day in the final, looks close to as good as he ever has. The clay season, in which Federer will apparently participate this time, looms. The much-hyped Next Gen will continue to wait for their turn.