Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, …

Written by: Tennischiro on 10th June 2012

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, ... |

Nadal came out on fire and got off to 2-0 leads in each of the first three sets. But after getting down two sets to love, and 2-0 with Nadal serving in the third, Djokovic completely turned the match around; he lost just 12 of the next 48 points. Nadal was just 4 games from making history; instead he made the wrong kind for himself as he lost 8 games in a row to go down a break in the fourth, 0-2. Certainly, Rafa has never done anything like that at Roland Garros before. Nadal finally held and then they suspended play.

That streak included a 44 shot rally in which Djokovic came out the winner on the third point of the fourth set. Djokovic made something like 80% first serves in that time(22/28 in the third and fourth sets), whereas he had made less than half of his first serves in the first two sets. In addition Nole had 30 unforced errors those first two sets; since then he’s had just 10 in the 3rd and fourth sets. More importantly, he found his timing, admittedly for very heavy balls, and started to push Nadal back like the Djokovic of the first 6 months of last year. He was completely dominating at the end and Nole had his legs, his wind and his confidence back. It will be interesting to see how they play when they come out tomorrow … or on Tuesday.

Fatigue shouldn’t be a factor now. If Uncle Tony can help Rafa find his mojo again, it will be interesting, but I think he has let Nole out of the bag, so to speak. If Nadal doesn’t find that mojo, Djokovic will win 10 of the next 15 games and it will be over in a hurry. Even if he does, I think Djokovic now has the edge although he is still down 2 sets to 1. Nole has lost his fear of Rafa at Roland Garros. Once again the vampire Djokovic has risen from the dead; moreover, he has faced his fear of the werewolf Nadal (at least at Roland Garros). If Nole can actually pull this one off, it will be one of the greatest comebacks in the history of open tennis.

Here are the charts for the first 3 1/3 sets of the match. It should be livestreamed on NBCSports.com in the morning and it will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network if you can get that, but it will be on at 7AM on the East Coast, 4AM on the West Coast. That’s 1PM in Paris. Of course, that is weather permitting. As of Sunday night the forecast is for 40 to 80% chance of precipitation all day long. And it doesn’t look much better than that on Tuesday.

1st Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/256/djokovicnadalrg2012set1.jpg/

2nd Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/834/djokovicnadalrg2012set2.jpg/

3rd Set:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/526/djokovicnadalrg2012set3.jpg/

4th Set, just first 3 games:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/338/nolenadalrg2012set4begi.jpg/

10sChiro

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If you want more information about lessons with TennisChiro or his videotaping and analysis service, contact him at donbrosseau@earthlink.net. This summer he will be the Head Pro at the Buckskill Tennis Club in Easthampton, NY. (buckskilltennis.com)

Topics: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros