Rafael Nadal rekindled his rivalry with Novak Djokovic in Rome on Saturday, defeating the Serb 7-6 (4), 6-3 to reach a 10th career final in the Italian capital.
The Spaniard hadn’t faced off with Djokovic since he beat him en route to the Madrid title 12 months ago and their one-hour 56-minute showdown was a high-intensity affair throughout.
Nadal will reclaim the No. 1 ranking if he wins the final on Sunday. Otherwise, Federer will hold onto the top spot until at least June 24.
The Mallorcan faces either Marin Cilic or defending champion Alexander Zverev in the final.
Here are some of the main takeaways from Saturday’s 51st meeting between Nadal and Djokovic.
PROGRESS FOR DJOKOVIC
Djokovic has shown great progress this week in Rome, battling through tough situations, and slowly finding his inner warrior. His shot-making against Nadal was reminiscent of vintage Djokovic, at times, as he found his angles and showed the kind of all-court game that troubled his rivals for a decade.
Still at the most crucial moments, it was Nadal who had the upper hand, which is understandable considering Djokovic hasn’t competed at this level often in recent months.
The question remains whether Djokovic has indeed turned a corner or if this is just a good week that could be followed by not so good ones. Last year, he made the final in Rome, defeating Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem en route, and won the Eastbourne title a month later but still Djokovic wasn’t able to shake his doubts.
The most promising sign this time though, is how Djokovic pushed Nadal in some of those rallies, and how tight that opening set was. Djokovic finished the match with a +6 winners:unforced errors differential (26 winners, 20 unforced errors), compared to Nadal’s 22:14, landed 71 per cent of his first serves in and won 60 per cent of the points on his first serve, 61 per cent of those on his second.
PERFECT IN SEMIS
Nadal took his record in Rome semi-finals to 10-0, and will be gunning for an eighth title at the Foro Italico on Sunday.
FORM GOING UP, RANKING GOING DOWN
He may have a had a promising tournament, but Djokovic’s semi-final defeat to Nadal means he will drop out of the top-20 on Monday, which would be his lowest ranking since October 2006. Since he was unable to defend his runner-up points from Rome last year, Djokovic lost points in the Italian capital this week.
The Serb will have a low seeding at Roland Garros and all eyes will be on him to see where he lands in the draw (taking place on Thursday May 24) in Paris.
MASTER OF MASTERS
Nadal took sole ownership of the top spot on the leaderboard for most Masters 1000 match wins, pulling one match ahead of Roger Federer to record a 356th victory at that level (against 77 losses).
CLOSING THE GAP
Nadal narrowed Djokovic’s head-to-head advantage over him to improve his record against the Serb to 25-26. After beginning his rivalry 14-4 against Djokovic, Nadal has lost 11 of his last 14 matches against him.
THE LONG EXCHANGES
There were some signature Nadal-Djokovic rallies in Saturday’s semi-final but one stat that stands out is the fact that Nadal won 14 of the 20 rallies that had nine or more shots.
ANGRY DJOKOVIC IS A GOOD SIGN
Perhaps the most telling part of Saturday’s match was when Djokovic was yelling towards his box in frustration over losing that first-set tiebreak. When they switched ends at 3-all, Djokovic found himself having to deal with Nadal’s high topspin balls while standing against the direction of wind and his struggle to handle those balls brought out the rage inside of him.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Djokovic this engaged and fired up and it’s the most promising sign yet that better things are just around the corner for the ex-world No. 1.
.@ElinaSvitolina is 11-2 in @WTA finals, has won her last 7⃣finals & has twice successfully defended a title (Baku ’13, Dubai ’18). She will try to retain her Rome crown on Sunday.
Here’s what she said when I asked her about her finals record in Dubai. pic.twitter.com/dIVtP4wWVG
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) May 19, 2018
