Australian Open 2012: Rafael Nadal Re-Establishing His Dominance

If there are any questions that Rafael Nadal is the best player in the world, he will sort those out in the 2012 Australian Open finals.

This guy has always been the best, and he is ready to prove that once and for all.

The thing about that statement is that right now many would tend to disagree with me, especially because the world rankings have Novak Djokovic rated No. 1.

While Djokovic undoubtedly had a stellar year in 2011 and was indeed the world's best tennis player, that was just one year.

When put into the perspective of overall career Nadal is the far better player, but even so he has a chance to re-establish that at the Australian open.

There are two ways he can do that:

Beat Andy Murray

This would most likely be the preferable route for Nadal, as it is the easiest. That's not a slight on Murray as much as it is a homage to how good Djokovic is.

Murray will square off with Djokovic to determine who will meet up with Nadal in the finals. Djokovic is obviously the favorite, but if the No. 4-ranked player in the world can beat the No. 1-ranked player it would go a long ways in building a case that Djokovic isn't the best player in the world.

Murray would be the easier matchup for Nadal, even though he will still be quite a challenge, so the chances of Nadal finishing as the Australian Open champ would be greater.

Beat Djokovic

There is no better way to prove you are still the best in the world by beating the best in the world. Now, many will argue this is something that has to be done over time and it can't be proved in just one tournament, but it would be quite the epic start.

Djokovic is incredible, there is no way around it, but if there's a player in tennis that has the raw skills and talent to go head-up with him, it's Nadal.

I expect Murray will give Djokovic quite a run in the semis, and that might give Nadal a slight advantage in the finals if they do meet.

Conclusion

Either way, Nadal has a chance to re-establish his dominance in the sport of tennis. He had an off year—mainly because of Djokovic's good year—but he's on his way back up.

Soon—and very soon—Nadal will be the most dominant player in tennis yet again.