What Rafael Nadal Needs to Do to Beat Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal established himself as one of the future all-time greats at a very young age. He defeated Roger Federer en route to his first Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2005, going on to defend it until 2009.

He is known for being the king of clay, one of the all-time greats (having won a career golden Slam and 10 Major titles), and the one person to figure out Roger Federer's game to the point where he's amassed a 7-2 record against him at Grand Slams.

But now somebody has figured Nadal out, and in an even stronger way than Rafa ever had Federer.

Novak Djokovic has beaten Nadal in their past six finals, two of them at Grand Slams. The matches have not been routs, but they haven't been terribly competitive either. If Nadal cannot figure out a way to beat Nole, it's looking like Federer's Grand Slam record is ever more secure.

Here are 10 things Rafael Nadal needs to change to beat his newest rival.

1. Stop Slicing the Backhand

Nadal developed a great backhand slice around Wimbledon 2008, which has given plenty of opponents problems. Unfortunately, Djokovic is not among them.

Djokovic is great at sending a heavy topspin backhand deep to the ad side, and he handles low forehands almost as well as he crushes high ones. If Nadal wants to beat Djokovic, he needs to play his backhand side more aggressively.

2. Stop Running Around the Backhand

This is a play that is very effective for Nadal, especially on clay. However, Djokovic stands so close to the baseline and takes the ball so early against Nadal that this ends up putting him in too much of a defensive position rather than the offensive one that it should.

Nadal needs to hit his backhand instead of running around it, and keep it deep. If he can be more aggressive off that wing, even better, because Djokovic is winning the longer rallies against him more and more.

3. Approach the Net More Often

Nadal may not have the greatest volleys, but he’s very good at knowing when to approach. He just needs to do it more.

He only came to the net 17 times in their US Open final, but he won 13 of those points. If Nadal can push Djokovic into an awkward passing position, chances are he can close at the net. 

4. Play More to Djokovic’s Forehand

We all know Nadal’s number one strategy after so many years of watching him play Federer: high to the backhand.

Djokovic’s backhand is his stronger wing, though, and what he does better than any other player is take the ball off the bounce and play it aggressively.

Because of this, Djokovic takes time away from Nadal and turns an offensive play into a defensive position, which is why Djokovic has begun to win most of their long rallies.

5. Stop Slicing the Serve out Wide

This is another classic strategy he has used against Federer, which won him a lot of matches. Nadal has wicked spin, even on his serve, and he can play an opponent out very wide on the deuce court, getting them out of position.

Djokovic is one of the best (if not the best) returners in the game, though, and he’s able to read Nadal’s serve so well that this strategy is rendered useless.

Nadal needs to flatten his serve out like he did in 2010, where he beat Djokovic in the final.

6. Go Down the Line More on the Backhand

A great play that worked wonders for him in the third set. Djokovic expects a passive slice or a cross court backhand from Nadal nine times out of ten, and this play caught him completely off guard.

If Nadal can consistently find a way to flatten out that backhand down the line, he’ll give Djokovic a lot more trouble and much more to worry about when he consistently goes to that wing.

7. Make the Rallies Shorter

Strange saying this about Nadal, but right now Djokovic is an even better grinder than he is.

Nadal has done his best and won sets while playing at his most aggressive, and the person who’s pushed Djokovic most this year has been Federer, who always employs this tactic.

Nadal needs to play a higher tempo match and prevent Novak from getting into a rhythm.

8. Stop Moon-Balling

This one isn’t terribly complicated. He tried it on clay, and it didn’t work.

It will never work against top players, let alone the best player in the world, so this is a strategy Nadal needs to abandon fast. 

9. Don't Get Defensive

Like I said earlier, Nadal needs to play a high tempo match to disallow Djokovic from getting his groundstrokes into a rhythm.

This means flatter serves, more approaches, and more aggressive backhands. All these sound foreign to Nadal, I know, but his old strategies are no longer working.

10. Get Djokovic out of His Head

Nadal has a stranglehold on most players’ mental game, even the best to ever have played the sport.

But now Djokovic is doing to Nadal what Nadal did to Federer, and Nadal has even admitted in press conferences that Nole has gotten into his head.

He needs to find some way to exorcise Djokovic and play the bigger points in the match more effectively, because we saw just how many games went to deuce in their final and how many more Novak won.