Nadal or Djokovic for the Championship?

With the final less the 3 hours away, I'm sure you guys are as buzzing as me for the final between Nadal and Djokovic. Now the Nadal v Federer rivalry is not nearly as competitive as it once was, this really is the most exciting rivalry in tennis. These two have thrown up some incredible matches, most notably the 2012 Australian Open final and this year's French Open semi final, and all there matches have a vast number of breath taking rallies.

I wrote an article before the tournament started stating that I thought we'd get a Nadal v Djokovic or Murray final and that I thought Nadal was slight favourite with Djokovic slightly behind. On the evidence of the past 2 weeks, I would still regard Nadal as the slight favourite.

Nadal has come through the draw losing just one set, a tie breaker to Phillip Kohlschreiber, and impressively dropping serve once, so he has very much carried on his form shown this year on the hard courts. I have been impressed with his ability to shorten points and win them, stepping up on to the baseline consistently and gaining the upper hand in a rally early on, compared to his play when he is more defensive and just stays back and is content to rally until he can step up on to the baseline after a short ball from the opponent. I think with Djokovic's usual aggressive game plan when facing Nadal it will be harder for Nadal to stay on the baseline or close to it as often but in his 3 set victory over Djokovic in Cincinnati he was still able to spend a significant amount of time on the baseline.

Djokovic looked in sparkling form in rounds 1 to 4, admittedly against very weak opposition, and looked good against Youzhny for 2 sets, then he unexpectedly lost the 3rd set but went into the 4th clearly riled up and cruised it 6-0. He came up against an inspired player in Wawrinka in the semi final and although he came through in a very tough tie that he could have easily lost, he looked unconvincing at times. He started the match very passively and looked lost at times, but to his credit stepped up his game and found a way to come through, like all champions do.


They have spent almost the same amount of time on the court (Novak spending 12h55, Rafa 12h59) but as Rafa had a slightly easier draw made easier by Janowicz, Raonic and Ferrer all losing he hasn't been tested and really stretched like Djokovic was in the semi against Wawrinka.
However, the testing semi final may be a disadvantage as there 5 sets of long, punishing rallies where Djokovic had to do a lot of defending. Normally, Djokovic's incredible recovery ability would mean this bares no relevance but considering he said he was 'tired' in the final against Murray due to the semi final against Del Potro at Wimbledon, it could be a factor.

All in all, I believe Nadal's current form and his record over the past 2 years against Djokovic makes him the slight favourite. However, whatever way it goes I can see a very tight 4/5 set classic on the cards!

What are your views on how the final will go and who's favourite?