The Australian Open title has been elusive to Rafael Nadal over the last decade. Nadal won the first and only trophy at the Australian Open in 2009. Despite reaching the finals of Melbourne Park on four occasions post-2009, Nadal has lost in each of the appearances.

Who’s the biggest obstacle for Rafael Nadal?

In two of those four finals, Novak Djokovic has been the impediment to Nadal’s success. The duo played their first Australian Open Final in 2012, which Djokovic won in an epic five-set battle. The final was dubbed as one the greatest matches of all time and still remains the longest Grand Slam Singles Final.

At the 2019 Australian Open Final, Djokovic again came like a brick wall to Nadal’s chances. However, this time, Djokovic decimated Nadal in straight sets and displayed one of his finest ever career performances.

With the 2021 Australian Open starting in less than a week, the biggest obstacle between Nadal and his goal of winning a second title at Melbourne Park is the World No.1, Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard may need to strategize differently and play aggressively throughout to fancy his chances against the 8-time Australian Open champion.

Here’s what Nadal needs to do to beat Djokovic at the 2021 Australian Open:

Return Games

With Djokovic being one of the best servers on the tour, an effective service return becomes extremely crucial for Nadal. Instead of standing far behind the baseline to return serve, Nadal should instead stand closer to the baseline to play more aggressively.

Moreover, Nadal should flatten his returns and hit them deep into the court to reduce Djokovic’s reaction time. Mostly, Nadal topspin laden return falls inside the service box, allowing Djokovic to step forward and clean it with a backhand winner.

Service

Many a time, Nadal’s deep wide serves on Djokovic’s backhand side have proven effective in pushing the Serbian at the back of the court. The 20-time Grand Slam champion needs to execute the ‘serve plus one’ strategy by serving wide open and setting the next shot for a winner.

Also, the Spaniard should hit more body serves to Djokovic to keep his arch-rival guessing. With Djokovic arguably being the best returner in the game, Nadal needs more firepower in his second serves to have an upper hand.

Rally

We have witnessed the two heavyweights indulge in exquisite shot-making and gruesome rallies in Grand Slam finals. Nadal needs to flatten his shots during the rallies because it deprives Djokovic to dictate the rally. Rather than continuously hitting Djokovic’s backhand side, Nadal should make the Serbian move from corner to corner.

In fact, during the 2020 French Open Final, Nadal played the entire match attacking from the baseline and made Djokovic run from one end to the other. Nadal needs to play similarly against Djokovic at the Australian Open and shorten the rallies by coming more often to the net.

With both tennis stars at the twilight of their careers, it would be spectacular to witness another epic final between Nadal and Djokovic at the Australian Open.