French Open Finals: Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Roland Garros finals are, as usual, featuring Rafael Nadal. On the other side, will be Novak Djokovic, the Spaniard’s biggest rival. Whenever Rafa and Novak meet, that brings excitement, and we are more than positive that this event will see the same. The two shared the arena on 54 occasions, many of them deciding the trophy winner. Nadal has the edge here in Paris, but Novak too knows how to win titles at French Open, and looks quite good at the moment.

Preview

Novak Djokovic (+120) comes in as the underdog against Nadal, and that is mostly because many believe that the Serb is: 1) struggling with injury, 2) tired after his match against Tsitsipas, 3) has a negative record against Rafa on the clay.

But to be honest, the only thing which might have some impact on Djokovic is that neck and shoulder injury, and that would be it. And that is if he is injured at all, because we saw that he managed to endure all five sets against Tsitsipas.

Novak lost just one set until that match, and started confidently against the young Greek. For some reason, his tempo of play dropped in the third set, as if he underestimated the youngster. But like so many times before, when needed the most, Djokovic shifted into a higher gear and rolled over the rival.

Rafael Nadal (-150) didn’t lose a single set up until this stage. Now, truth to be told, his path was way easier, and apart from Diego Schwartzman, there weren’t any notable names who played against him. Egor Gerasimov, Stefano Travaglia, Sebastian Korda, Jannik Sinner, all these guys met Nadal, and he simply demolished them.

We don’t need to speak too much about his record in Paris and overall, on the clay turf. The Spaniard presents arguably the best player ever on this surface. With 12 Roland Garros’ titles, there is hardly a reason to think otherwise.

What could be a potential problem for Nadal is the fact that weather conditions won’t be favoring his style of play. That is not important against players he met in at the earlier stages, but it is a big deal against Novak. His topspins will be less lethal, and the ball will have a weaker power once hitting the ground. It is something many see as his possible disadvantage here.

Head to Head Matches

Djokovic has 29 wins, while Nadal posted 26, and with 54 matches played so far, the two present the biggest rival on the ATP Tour, and maybe beyond that. Novak beat Rafa in the last meeting at the ATP Cup finals early this year, while the previous Grand Slam finals also saw Djokovic on the winning side in Australia in 2019.

Prediction

Here we have a close call. The opinions are divided, whoever you pick as the winner, we are pretty sure that there is a logical explanation for that. Since both players are more less equal, betting on five sets is worth risking, with the odds for that at +110.