‘Advantage Rafa?’ Mats Wilander predicts a Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal Wimbledon Final where he believes the Spaniard will have an upper hand
Follow Us
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
The top two seeds at Wimbledon 2022, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have gotten to a perfect start with both men clearing initial hurdles. Djokovic was pushed to four sets in the opening round but managed to tackle Thanasi Kokkinakis and Miomir Kecmanovic in the next two rounds easily to reach the second week at SW19 for the 14th time.
As for Nadal, he was pushed to four sets in both the first and the second round by Francisco Cerundolo and Ricardas Berankis. He will face 27th seed Lorenzo Sonego in the third round and is expected to make it to the Round of 16 easily.
Both Djokovic and Nadal have good draws and it looks very likely that the two will meet in the final once again. 7-time grand slam champion Mats Wilander expects both men to go all the way. Talking to Eurosport, Wilander said that going into the final, whatever they do will be irrelevant as all will depend on how they play on the coming Sunday.
“It’s completely irrelevant what you look like and what you feel like after two matches because they are only going to play in the finals. They are both going to get four more matches to get there,” he said.
‘The longer the tournament goes the more the surface starts to favor Rafa Nadal’: Mats Wilander
Wilander believes that when the eve of the final comes, the centre court will behave completely different as it would be drier and worn out. He said that the lush green fast courts favor Djokovic but as the tournament progresses, the dried-out courts will behave like clay courts and hence favor Nadal.
“The court here at Wimbledon is going to be completely different if they play in the final. It’s going to be drier, worn out. It’s going to play out more like a clay court so if they were to play today or Friday first week then yes so far Djokovic has maybe looked a little bit better. But the longer the tournament goes the more the surface starts to favor Rafa Nadal,” he said.
But Wilander said that he doesn’t necessarily think that Nadal will beat Djokovic. Before making a verdict, he wants to see how and when the two great men peak in the coming week.
“It doesn’t mean I think Nadal is going to beat Djokovic in the final necessarily but like I said before they are just winning matches and peak at the right time. So far they haven’t had to peak,” he said.
Stay Updated!
Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)