US Open Tennis 2011: Why Rafael Nadal Is a Lock for US Open Title

After having lost just one set this tournament, Rafael Nadal is ready to take on the challenge of his new rival Novak Djokovic in the 2011 US Open men's final.

It is remarkable that Rafa has lost each of the five times he has faced the No. 1 player in the finals this year, but this match might prove that the sixth time's a charm.

Not only has Rafa been cruising through his half of the draw, but Nole was glancing down the barrel of a gun in the semifinals, escaping a two-set deficit and double match point against the challenging Roger Federer.

Most people should discard the issue of fitness for the final—not because the players have been given a deserved day of rest, but because the top two competitors are among the fittest in all of sports.

It is doubtful that Nole will be too wiped out from his four-hour semifinal victory, and the only way I see either player getting exhausted would be if there was an introduction of excessive heat (in which case Novak would probably take the blow).

Rafa practically used reverse psychology in his on-court post-match interview after having knocked out Andy Murray. He acknowledged that Novak had gotten the better of him in their recent encounters, and basically said he would only have an easier match if the crowd helped him out and backed his side.

Clearly Rafa has a few tricks up his sleeve, and, just like last year's final where it seemed impossible to think that he would allow Djokovic to take his first U.S. Open win from him, the Spaniard will be much more serious this time around compared to their past matches.

Think about how hard Rafa had to work to even make the finals of the U.S. Open in his career: it took him until 2010 to even compete in the title match, whereas he had been winning Slams since 2005 and had reached every title match, except in Flushing Meadows, by January of 2009.

He has reached the final yet again and definitely will not let his reign as the New York champion slip out of his reach so quickly.

His game plan will be constructed more on the issue of aggressive serving and moving Novak much more, even if it means that he himself has to run more than his opponent. He must incorporate more down-the-line groundstrokes into baseline points, and he certainly will have to hit more towards the lines on his crosscourt and inside-out forehands.

For anybody who looked closely into his semifinals match, Nadal was hitting much more inside-out forehands than we are used to seeing, and he was placing them closer to the lines to create bigger angles.

The backhand slice also worked superbly against Andy Murray; however, this cannot be used against Novak unless Rafa uses it to either move the Djoker or to keep it low to his backhand because hitting it low to his forehand will not possess too much of a problem for the No. 1 player in the world to handle.

Most importantly, the crowd should favor the Spaniard—not only is he an underdog, but strangely enough, the crowd in New York that never seemed to root for him all too much will now be partisan towards him. Novak still isn't truly appreciated in Flushing Meadows yet.

As long as Rafa does not have a bad day at the office, he will take the winner's trophy once again and will prove that nobody beats him in back-to-back Grand Slam finals.

This article was written by Jeff Cohn, a sports writer and enthusiast.