Sunday, November 10, 2013

2013 ATP TOUR FINALS: Djokovic-Nadal XXXIX


The last official match of the 2013 tennis season will be tomorrow night in London at 8pm local time (12pm PST and 3pm EST). It will feature World #1 Rafael Nadal against World #2 Novak Djokovic meeting for the 39th time in their careers (Nadal currently lleads 22-16).

Despite my prediction to the contrary, Nadal dispatched Roger Federer 7-5 6-3 in a match that was a bit closer than the score would indicate. Federer returned serve very well but ultimately made too many unforced errors against his arch-nemesis to extend his unbeaten streak in indoor hard court matches to 5-0, losing instead. They two played four times in 2013 with the Spaniard winning every time. Nadal is playing in his 14th final of 2013 and has won 10 titles so far and has 75-6 record for the year.

Djokovic has won 21 matches in a row since losing to Nadal in the finals of the US Open. He took care of Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-3 to reach his tenth final of the year (6 titles so far). Djokovic won this title by defeating Federer last year; Nadal has never won the year-end championships.

The two have faced off 5 times in 2013 already with Nadal winning 3 times and Djokovic twice. Djokovic won 2 of the three finals they played but Nadal won both meetings in the grand slams. They are currently tied 9-9 in ATP tour finals. Djokovic won the last time they played, in the finals of the China Open in Beijing a few weeks ago.

I believe that Djokovic will win on Monday, although I do believe that Nadal deserves to be #1 for the amazing year that he has had and could very well come away with the victory, capping a very good year and earning nearly $2 million more in prize money.

MadProfessah pick: Djokovic.

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