Is Novak Djokovic Invincible or Can Someone Beat Him?

Back in 2016, Stan Wawrinka achieved the impossible by beating Novak Djokovic in 4 sets. He proved himself to be one of the most unpredictable players on tour. In beating Djokovic, he also showed off his hard-hitting game and showed a major strategy that the other top seeds don’t employ.

Pitted against the Serbian maestro’s robot-like accurate hitting and flawless groundstrokes, Stan proved his critics wrong. It is no surprise that Stan’s hard-hitting and motive to keep the points short were having a drastic effect on Novak’s gameplay.

As the Serbian prepares to face the best of the NextGen – Austrian Dominic Thiem – in the Australian Open 2020 finale, we take a look at what may help against Djokovic.

Stan’s strategy against Novak Djokovic in the French Open 2016 Finale

Stan forced Novak to come to the net more often than he’d want to. Seldom do we see Nole struggle so much on the court.

However, the match was a testament to the fact that Novak is, in fact, quite beatable even on his very best day.

Of course, as we see in results, this is a very very rare occurrence.

Novak Djokovic has been the single-most dominating force in men’s tennis for quite a few years. He also rarely gets knocked out of a tournament before the Final. Moreover, there seems to be no apparent weakness in his game. So, just how do you beat a guy who seems unbeatable by the looks of it?

Some interesting suggestions have been put out there, like offering him croissants or locking him out of his oxygen egg pod. But let’s be clear, we are only discussing on-court options here.

So what is the strategy to get the better of Novak Djokovic?

Long before he became this almost invincible player, it was widely acknowledged that Novak  Djokovic was the best returner in the game with the best backhand. But, what’s scary is that his service has also almost reached that world-beating level which is a scary proposition. If stats are the way for you, sample this, at Wimbledon 2015, Djokovic won:

• 95% of his service games
• 77% of his first-serve points
• a very respectable 64% of second serve ones.

So, Nick Bollettieri isn’t off the mark when he says that Djokovic is the most complete player he has seen play.

Now, here’s the thing about beating The Djoker. You don’t beat him at his own game. He is a powerful baseliner whose strength lies in his returns. And he covers the court well. Bloody well.

And that’s the reason why Nadal at his peak wasn’t very successful against Novak at his peak. Rafa is a similar player to Novak.

His strengths include his court coverage, returns and powerful forehands laden with topspin. That way you are literally playing into Novak’s hands if you try to move him around the court.

And that’s the thing with most modern-day players. Most of them happen to be powerful baseliners with ground coverage and Nole just happens to be the most perfect of those prototypes – a cyborg born of mankind’s will to perfection!

The template to beat Novak is a very Swiss one. It’s exemplified by Stanislas Wawrinka and Roger Federer.

Now mind you, there can be days when big servers like Ivo Karlovic have their day and blow Novak away. Of course, that can happen. But that happens maybe once or twice a year. What’s needed is a more consistent plan of action.

Now, in fickle public memory, Federer beating Djoker is somewhat of a joke. Especially when Djokovic himself has defeated Federer in the last 3 Grand Slams in the Finals and SF. But, sample this – the Serb lost 6 matches in 2015. 3 of those losses came against a way-past-his-prime Roger Federer.

Now, how does Roger manage it?

The key is offense. Attack, attack, attack. Run him around. And that’s what Federer does. With his serve and volley style, he is almost like a wistful reminder of a bygone era in today’s mechanical game. But, guess what, the serve and volley incredibly offense-minded tactics are just the things to throw the usually ice-cool Djokovic off track.

Federer’s Cincinnati Open Final victory 7-6, 6-3 is something that should be considered the Holy Grail of beating Nole, who has never won at Cincinnati in 5 attempts.

Here’s what Federer did. He played attacking tennis. Constantly, without fail from the get-go. The extremely fast surface suits Federer perfectly. It allows him to sprinkle the ball around in that inimitable style. It also reduces Novak’s reaction time by that fraction – just what’s needed to throw his gameplan awry.

So, what goes wrong in Grand Slams?

It’s the go for broke approach that goes missing. His recent failures come creeping back. It results in that attack going out of the window.

On these occasions, Federer tries beating Novak at his game. The wait and watch baseline game – not happening, nope! Sorry maestro, but you’ll commit an error before Djokovic does.

Also, the best of 5 sets in Slams are an important factor too.

ATP events are the best-of-3-set affairs, which allow Federer to attack with zeal from the start. In Grand Slams, Federer still tries conserving his energy for an epic battle which never ensues.

Djokovic is impossible to beat if he takes the first set.

Still, the closest Federer came in a Slam final? US Open. It followed the Cincinnati win. Federer won 39/59 approaches to the net. Just that he allowed Novak to take away the first set, while he was still settling in at the baseline.

He is perfect at the net and likes keeping his rallies short, thereby conserving his resources. Also, most importantly, Federer realizes that you don’t get back at a Djokovic serve after falling back 0-30. He regulates his play and resources that way. So that, at least, he isn’t tired by the time the 4th set roles around.

Talking of contemporaries of his age is when one comes to Stan Wawrinka.

Now, Wawrinka is one of the true power hitters in the game. And the term is to be taken literally. These are men who just rip the skin of the ball with the power of their strokes. Brutally powerful groundstrokes define them.

It’s an elite group just behind the big four and consists of Wawrinka, Tsonga, Del Potro, and the likes.

Tsonga has had victories over the Serb in the past and Del Potro has been out injured for longer than anyone cares to remember now. But, somewhere, something is missing.

In comes Wawrinka!

His record against Novak Djokovic stands at a paltry 23-4. Pfft! you say.

But, if one is to go looking on the present-day circuit, Stanislas Wawrinka is the best man to beat Djokovic.

The reason? That monster of a one-handed backhand, which he plays with such furious power and such ballet dancer like grace.

It’s almost a sight to behold. It’s almost like watching a child hit his first shot on a court. Such is the joy and the carefree nature of that shot!

More importantly, unlike Federer, Wawrinka doesn’t have a legacy to defend and ghosts of another title slipping by don’t haunt him.

Wawrinka, from the get-go, decides to hit the living daylight out of the ball, and unforced errors just don’t deter him. He likes to spray the ball around, with fierce power.

This means that Djokovic needs to stay back. Far back from the baseline. Which disturbs his balance of play where he usually dominates rallies.

Even though this means that rallies do get long, Novak has to keep getting further back to retrieve shots. As a result, his subsequent returns don’t have their usual venom. Stan goes for it once he smells blood. That’s his game plan. He doesn’t complicate it.

Taking up his case, he has been the closest competitor to Djokovic. The duo has had 3 consecutive 5 setters at the Australian Open.

In their epic 2013 Australian Open slugfest, Wawrinka laid down the blueprint to beat Novak and showed signs of things to come. Wawrinka lost that match 1-6 7-5 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 12-10. The match was later voted as ‘Match of the Year’,

He bettered himself using this very blueprint at the 2014 Australian Open, and French Open 2015 – slams he ended up winning.

In this classic, Wawrinka committed 93 errors to Djokovic’s 66, but also hit 69 winners to the Serb’s 51. The takeaway? Djokovic plays it safe and doesn’t believe in percentage tennis, unlike Wawrinka. Stan doesn’t have a better backhand than Djokovic because that’s not possible. He just has a bigger one.

The only fitter, a faster version of Djokovic that exists is Kei Nishikori. However, the Japanese still needs to better his game, be consistent, and recapture that late 2014 form. He did beat Djokovic during his late 2014 stretch.

Till then, the world needs to contend with the template laid down by these Swiss gentlemen.

You either play serve and volley or you bring true power-hitting to the fore with percentage tennis going your way. But you attack. Without inhibition, without distraction, without missing a beat. You don’t clutter your mind, your body needs to go all the way and you conserve your energy in an intelligent manner.

It will get harder for Federer to beat Djokovic because of that familiar foe, age. In sports, they say, nostalgia is a great catalyst. Maybe the greatest of them all.

The sheer will to lift another Slam is what makes him get out there and compete with the best. The memories of many challengers he slays at these very grounds just might provide him the impetus to get there. But for that, he will need to get past Djokovic or wish that his countryman does before him.

These 2 need to come good on the template they have laid down. The gauntlet has been thrown down by Novak Djokovic. For him, on the other side, immortality awaits.