Nole has conquered the Clay Courts!

"Djokovic ends Nadal’s 37 winning streak on the clay court while he continues his own with 32 win."

I should have Blog about this man the moment he wins the Serbia Open title last two weeks ago. Novak Djokovic easily claimed the title, his second, of the tournament right in front of his home crowd. The event was played on the clay court.  It was his first victory on that kind of a playing surface this year.  Given that, I couldn’t hard tell that it was huge victory for him. Why? Well, that title of him has less bearing and recognition because only few top ranked players has participated on the event.  No sights of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal there.

But the story was different when the three top seeded players clashed off at the Madrid Masters last week.

While Roger Federer seems to be still struggling to win a title this year, Rafael Nadal who play best on a the clay court surface had won the Monte Carlo Masters title last month. He continued his winning streak on the clay court at the Madrid Masters BUT NOT until he had a face-off match with Novak Djokovic on the Finals of the Madrid Masters. Djokovic has defeated Nadal right in front of his home crowd.

Yep, Djokovic ends Nadal’s 37 winning streak on the clay court while he continues his own with 32 win. (Djokovic never lost in a match this year). A lot of tennis fanatics thought that it was Nadal who will end Nole’s streak but that didn’t happen. Nole came out a little stronger than Nadal. And again, Nole’s confidence and composure pushed him through to victory.

Now, I can really tell, that win has a huge bearing. Beating the “King of Clay” on the clay court would definitely be a defining moment for Nole. He just proved that he can rally and win even on that kind of playing surface. And that, he is very determined to be on Top.

As for me, I never had a doubt that he can beat Nadal on the clay court. It was just the surface that has changed, NOT the confidence, the morale, the composure, the playing attitude and the strong determination to win. Nole have it all that is why he always delivered an impressive play and win everytime on his match.

As of this moment, Nole is just a few points away to replace Nadal on the top spot. Had Nole win the Rome Masters title this week and Nadal didn’t make it to the semis, then that’s it. But of course, we all know that Nadal will definitely push it hard to make it into the Final. We’ll never know as of this moment. And Roger? Well, I wish him luck. That seems to be the only way for him to win the title. LUCK.

Congratulations NOLE.! You’ll get there in time!

All the Best!

Is Nole ready to conquer the Clay Court?

Nole poses his 2011 Sony Ericson Champion trophy in Miami

I’m having a great day!

I thought having a glimpsed on my crush was the best shot of the day. I was wrong. It turned out to be just a “cherry on top” event as I learned about Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal on the Finals of Sony Open in Miami. Now that’s the very good news I wanted to hear early in the morning.

Djokovic beat Nadal on a straight set, 4;6, 6;3, 7;6 (7-4) in a game that has lasted for about 3 and a half hours. (You can check the blow-by blow details of that great match here: ESPN Tennis)

His service and ability to return the serve into opponent’s side, I think, were the vital things that helped him to claim the title. The last time I watched the game between these two players was on the Finals of the US Open last year. That time, Nole was having a hard time hitting back the ball to Nadal’s serve. Now, I noticed Nole has a rapid reaction on how to manage the ball and return it to opponent’s side. And I don’t know how quickly he learned to improve his service in just months, but it was really impressive. It leveled his game with Nadal, if not surpassed.

And this video is a complete reversal of what I’ve witnessed during the Finals of US Open. This time it was Nadal who struggled to the service of Nole.

This is Novak’s 2nd time to win the title since he first earned it way back year 2007.

The victory gave him a total of 24-0 winning streak this year. He’s definitely up to set a new record for being undefeated for the longest time this year. Despite that impressive achievement, Nole remained humble uttering “I know I had the best start of the season, no question about it, it’s the best four months of my life,” he said “But it’s only the start of the season. It’s a bit early to talk about getting that top spot. It’s still quite a big difference. Rafa is definitely the best player in the world now.” he added.

Nole is right. Nadal’s points in the ranking are quite big in difference. To make it in to the top, it warrants him to claim the title of the remaining tournaments this year including the 3 Grandslams. Ambitious? Not really. But it is always possible.

There’s no doubt that Nole can rally in the hard court. But the thing is, in the next few months ahead, Nole will be required to play into the clay court. And when we say clay court, of course,  there’s only one name that will rise above among tennis professionals, and that would be Nadal.

And Nole, for the record, never grabbed any title on a clay court (I think). The closest success for him in this kind of court was back in 2009 where he played in the Finals of French Open with Rafel Nadal which he lost then eventually.

But again, like I said, things have changed. The Djokovic that we knew before has evolved and improved dramatically. For a long time, I’ve never seen him this confident and well composed. If these things will have it with him playing in the clay courts ahead, I believe he will definitely conquer!.

Congratulations again to you Nole!

Will it be Nadal to cut-off the momentum of Djokovic?

Djokovic and Nadal to clash off in the Sony Ericson Open.

So my prediction has ended up being negative.!

It was Rafael Nadal whom will face Novak Djokovic in the finals of Sony Ericson Open in Miami. I pinned hope that it was Roger Federer but he was easily defeated by Nadal in a 2 set win 6:3, 6:2.

Nadal now has a chance to grab the title for the first time. But of course, he knows he need not to be relaxed and comfortable for he will face again a well composed Djokovic in the final of the tournament.

Djokovic is currently making his record on the history of tennis for having a 25-0 consecutive winning streak this year.

Is it Nadal who will break the winning momentum of Djokovic? Or will Djokovic utilize this streak to gain much confidence and overwhelmed Nadal in their match.?

We’ll never know for certain until their game called off.

And I don’t want to make any prediction again. But obviously you know who I am rooting for.

The Unstoppable Nole

Novak Djokovic: 2011 Indian Wells Champion

Unstoppable. This would be the perfect word that can be suited for Novak Djokovic on how he display his greatness in tennis. Recently, he defeated one of his strong contender ever and world’s current number 1 in ranking, Rafael Nadal, on a Final match held at Indian Wells. The victory has placed Nole in the second spot on the ranking for the second time and putting Roger Federer back to number 3.

As of this time, Novak has never been defeated in any single’s match on any tournament since the year has started. He is currently holding an impressive 20 consecutive winning streak and still counting as the 2011 Sony Ericson Open in Miami begun last week.

Novak on Federer: Well, I have said it before that if there’s a man who really knows how to vanquish Federer on the hard court, it would only be Nole. He just proved it again as the two top seeded players had their faced-off match on the semi-finals of the said tournament. Federer lose the match with Nole for the fourth consecutive time. Really not surprising at all. I was actually expecting another smooth win for Novak. And he just did. He delivered another excellent performance on the court.

Novak on Nadal: Being the world’s number 1 in tennis, Rafael Nadal would be the guy to beat not only for Nole but for every professional tennis player in the world. But for sure, it was Nole who athirst the most to play with Nadal. I mean, Nole has proved many times before that he can beat the men under his name on the ranking and even a man on his top. It was only Rafael Nadal whom he mostly desired to defeat for a long time. Way back then, Nadal had upset Djokovic in a number of matches including the Finals of the US Open.

Then came the day Nole have been waiting for. Backed with a fresh win from Federer which gave Nole a chance to redeem the 2nd place in the ranking, the two (Nole and Nadal) clashed off again in the Finals of the Indian Wells. It was a tough fight I must say. Barely predictable what would be the outcome of the game. Both players showed the best of what they have. But in the end, it was Nole who claimed the victory.

The win of Nole over Rafael Nadal gave tennis enthusiasts a clear mindset that Nole might be the one to conquer the tennis world this year. He is perfectly portraying a guy who really anxiously wanted to be on TOP. He is focused, confident, composed and determined. Things that are vital to be the number 1 tennis player in the world.

Last year, it was very clear that Nadal ruled the tennis world where he won most of the tennis tournament including the important Grandslams (Nadal grabbed 3 out of 4 Grandslam tournament last year, ecxept Australian Open, which magnified his lead on the world rankings). This year, well, it’s pretty hard to tell that his reigning in tennis will push through. We’re only about to enter the second quarter of the year. There’s still a bunch of important tennis tournaments ahead. But what’s very clear to me, is that, that 1st quarter of this year was dominated by Novak Djokovic. One thing to say, he has the winning momentum at this point in time. Though the points that Nole need to capture in order to replace Nadal on the top spot is something sizable in amount, I believe he can do it. I know he will.

Anyway, I am thrilled about the fact that Novak Djokovic has maintain his composure and confidence. I just hope it will continue for the rest of his game this year.

All the best.