Around The Bases

Nadal and Djokovic: The Greatest Rivalry in Sports

In another hard fought, come-from-behind victory, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Scot Andy Murray to advance into the final round of the Australian Open Friday morning.

The upcoming match marks the thirtieth time the two have met, and each time previous has made for must-see-TV. Between the two, they’ve shared the longest match in an event and account for seven Grand Slam titles, and that’s in just the past two years. The rivalry itself was ranked third greatest of all-time by ATPWorldTour.com.

Is there any pair in sports who consistently does it better, time after time, than these two? You’d be hard-pressed to find it.

Before you go saying Nadal versus Federer makes for a better rivalry — which no one can dispute hasn’t been the best to this point — you have to think about the fact that with both Djokovic and Nadal barely in their mid-twenties, their best may be yet to come.

It’s easy to bring up rivalries from the past within the broad range of sports also: Magic versus Bird, Ali versus Frazier, Arnold Palmer versus Jack Nicklaus, Tyson versus Holyfield or even Tiger Woods versus Phil Mickelson.  But those were then and this is now. It’s a new era where the young guys grow increasingly dominant in their chosen realm. It’s also an era — one where rivalries that are over-hyped and blown way out of proportion are considered normal — and actual rivalries are few and far between.

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, who have only faced each other in regular-season 
matches, have played largely without anything of substance on the line besides bragging rights. They don’t compare either. And while it’s easy to point out that tennismakes it easier to compete for multiple championships every year, thereby making opportunities to develop rivalries plentiful, the same can be said for Kobe and LeBron. Magic and Bird managed to face each other in the NBA Finals three times. Why can’t they?

In the NFL there’s Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, which actually may be the closest we have to compare. But even that one doesn’t compare either. It’s no secret that there’s definitely no love lost between those two, and their clashes have been as epic as they’ve been legendary. But that gambit has been run mostly by Brady, and with Manning’s career now in jeopardy, may fall apart altogether.  And don’t even think about bringing up little brother Eli and Brady as a comparison — at least not yet.

What those lack in substance, the meat and potatoes of principal, as in, say, championships, is what this one possesses. Other rivalries of today don’t even come close.

The one between Nadal and Djokovic started off so slow no one could have foreseen it becoming what it is today.

Their first match in 2006 was hardly even a contest. It pitted an 18-year-old Serbian kid against a player, who though only one year his elder, had already been competing professionally for four years, won a Grand Slam and been ranked the world’s No. 2. They didn’t even meet in a Grand Slam event, final or otherwise, until 2007, a whole five years into Rafa’s career. It was only Djokovic’s second year by then, and he never stood a chance.

But since then, Djokovic has come roaring back, and in doing so has demanded, and earned the right, to be considered amongst the discussion of tennis greats.

By tallying nine wins to Nadal’s six since 2009, he’s done just that. Remember those championships? This rivalry has them.

They’ve met in the finals of Grand Slam events three times since 2011. Sunday marks the fourth time in just two years. And oh, by the way, the skinny Serbian they call Nole has won two of those to Rafa’s one.

This rivalry has all the makings to be one of the great ones and is gaining steam quickly. Already it’s been more back and forth recently than any other comparative rivalry in sports. And when the two meet Sunday, it’ll be to compose another chapter in their storied competitive series.

Move over Bird and Magic, you have company.

Does Bulls’ Missing Piece Solve Playoff Puzzle?

The Bulls concluded their preseason with a bang. They look poised to open the 2011-12 NBA season in a Christmas day game against the Los Angeles Lakers with what, at least for the moment, looks like a championship-worthy roster. During that game, all eyes are sure to be on Derrick Rose, just like last season, but what makes the Bulls different this season is the help they secured through free-agency.

Bulls fans, meet Rose’s new sidekick Richard Hamilton.

In front of a ruckus and nearly sold-out crowd on Tuesday night against the Pacers, the Bulls newest member had the United Center rocking. Hamilton dropped 13 points and contributed six assists in 30 minutes in a game that felt more like a playoff game than an exhibition game. But even before their Dec. 25 season-opener, the Bulls looked to be in mid-season form.

“With me working on my three-point shooting, me kicking to him, him kicking it back to me, me making it to the corner, to Lu (Luol Deng), him making shots,” Derrick Rose said after the Bulls signed Hamilton, “I think it’s going to open up everyone’s game. Everybody’s going to have open shots.” 

Open shots were plentiful in Tuesday’s contest as the Bulls scored 93 points on 50.6 percent shooting and had 30 assists on their 39 field goals. Four starters scored in double figures. Last season, in order for the Bulls to win as handedly as they did Tuesday night, Rose would have had to carry the team offensively, which only a season ago was standard issue. In fact, in last year’s series against the Pacers, that’s exactly what Rose did as he was forced to score 27.7 points in the five games it took the Bulls to advance to the second round. What a difference a year makes.

For the first time in a long time, Bulls fans got to see Rose play as a true point guard on Tuesday. Instead, he played mediator while he chipped in 12 points and nine assists — all while playing only 28 minutes in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicates.

It’s a difference Rose noticed right away.

“The game sometimes felt easy,” Rose said after Tuesday’s win. “[Hamilton] took a lot of pressure off me.”

They seem to have found a solution to last year’s problem that the Miami Heat and their three-headed-monster of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh exposed on their way to eliminating the Bulls from playoff contention. But the Heat, looking to fix their own problems, also improved their roster during the off-season.

As soon as the lockout lifted, they went out and signed a slimmed down Eddy Curry, added veteran defenseman and sharp-shooter Shane Battier, then anchored their front court with big man Erick Dampier for good measure. The Bulls — while plugging a hole in their offense and filling a team need — decided only to pick up Hamilton.

“We added a weapon,” Carlos Boozer said. “He has a huge basketball IQ and gets respect from the referees. He makes us better.”

But the dynamics of what was considered a two-team race in the Eastern Conference last year might be changing.

The Boston Celtics, the sick-man of the east, so to speak, beefed up their roster by signing Chris Wilcox and acquiring Brandon Bass via trade. Both go a long way in helping an aging line-up keep pace with the rising stock of the Bulls and Heat. On top of that, the shorter 66-game schedule only helps aging knees of guys like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. And if that weren’t enough, the New York Knicks staked their claim for the right to be considered among the Eastern Conference elite.

Key acquisitions for the Knicks include an invigorated and energized Tyson Chandler, fresh off his title run with the Mavericks and Baron Davis, who when motivated, has the potential to be one of the craftiest — and deadliest shooting — point guards in the league. They did just enough so that you can’t count them out either.

In a period of two weeks the entire landscape of the Eastern Conference changed. What was largely considered a 2-horse race is now open to the field. The Bulls ace-up-the-sleeve is that they returned every player, except Keith Bogans, who was part of last year’s second-
ranked defense and contributed to the league’s best record. Head coach Tom Thibodeau has another year of experience and oh, by the way, they do have last year’s MVP in Derrick Rose.

As the Bulls put the preseason behind them and head toward their nationally televised opener against the Lakers, they’ll have their first legitimate test as to what Hamilton does, or doesn’t add to their roster. If it goes the way the Bulls hope it will, they’ll open the regular season with a bang as well.

Follow @deekayturner