Nole's a break up. Didn't see that coming. Still early though and Rafa hasn't really brought the game he had against JMDP out with him so far but Djokovic is playing really well so far. I honestly thought this would be relatively easy for Rafa - definitely not easy so far.
Okay, the break of serve just made Rafa angry and he broke back straight away. Some great shots from him in the game, helped by some errors from Djoko in fairness.
Very enjoyable match so far. Some great shots by both players already.
And Nole's just broken again. Strange match - some great shots mixed in with some baffling errors. Rafa's only won 1 point on his second serve. Djoko leads 5-2* and looks the better player at the moment.
And Nole takes the set 6-3. Very, very impressive from him so far. Massive hitting. I'd like to see Rafa up his level a little though - after the way he played against JMDP I was hoping for something special tonight. Still, cannot take away from how well Djokovic is playing and he's the deserved leader at the moment. Be interesting to see how Nadal responds in the second set.
It's well deserved and he's playing great but it's weird seeing Rafa play like this. It's so...erratic. Like amazing shot one minute, then whack one into the net and his second serve is getting killed. A lot of that is down to Nole though - he's playing great. He's clearly learned a lot from last week. He's hitting the ball cleanly, he's moving Nadal, he's coming into net to finish points off and despite a few strange shot selections (using the drop-shot in strange moments seems to be a trait of the young guns) he's completely outplaying Nadal and pushing him around. It's very impressive. Andy will have his work cut out for him if he has to play Nole in this form.
Amazing match - if you get the chance watch it on the repeat tomorrow you will not be disappointed. The depth of shot and some of the play in it was absolutely outstanding. What a start to the season for the two young guns. Amazing.
I don't see Andy beating Nole if he plays that well on Friday, the serving he dished out under pressure in the last game when Rafa had 3 BP's was immense. I'm just stunned. Great match from Novak - and he's finally claimed his big scalp that he needed.
There goes my chance of gaining points in the pick 'em competition. Thought Rafa was a definite to beat Nole so will be intrigued to see the replay. Andy's going to have a really tough job winning this match. Nole has the pyschological advantage and he seems to be on top form these days. He's mentally strong, has a great serve and will be hard to break. We know Andy's mentally strong too but not sure he will be able to confuse Nole like he does other players. Madeline - we need the flame thrower!
johnnylad wrote: Wow! Didn't expect that result. Rafa says he didn't play as well as he can but how much of that was down to Djokovic?
A lot of it was down to Djokovic but Rafa did make some horrible errors at important times in the match. He was on the backfoot almost immediately with the way that Nole was moving him around and he was forced so far back from the baseline that he wasn't really able to take control of a lot of the points.
You have to take advantage of the top guys when they aren't quite at their best and that's what Djokovic did so all the credit goes to him. He played an amazing match.
Strange match - some great shots mixed in with some baffling errors. Rafa's only won 1 point on his second serve. Djoko leads 5-2* and looks the better player at the moment.
