Novak Djokovic’s pre-match plan to disrupt the rhythm of Rafa Nadal in yesterday’s French Open final didn’t work because the Spaniard was just too good.
The World No. 1 said he wanted to ‘disrupt his rhythm obviously’, but it didn’t happen.
“But he was ready. He was there, he was prepared,” Djokovic said.
“He was playing all the right shots today. It’s just one of these days where you have to just say, Chapeau, and well done.
“I was also thinking that these conditions are more favourable to me. I was feeling great throughout the tournament.
“But, yeah, I mean, Rafa Nadal has proven everybody wrong. That’s why he’s a great champion. He just played a fantastic match today.”
The standard Djokovic gameplan is to be patient and play the longer points. The longer the point, statistically the better chance he has.
“I probably wasn’t constructing the points well,” he admitted. “That reflected on the result. But that was also caused by his amazing defence.
“He was getting a lot of balls back. Normally all the shots that I play after two, three quick exchanges from the back of the court, when I hit it against nine out of ten guys, it’s a winner. But not against him.”
