ESPN analyst Cliff Drysdale calls world No. 1 Novak Djokovic the clear favorite to win the U.S. Open and says that one of the primary reasons why the Serbian has dominated Rafael Nadal this season is because he doesn’t play with as much spin as he used to.
"I've been saying all along since Nadal made his move, two or three years ago and dominated the scene, that it was going to be a flat ball hitter, somebody who could hit the ball flat consistently," Drysdale said in a conference call. "And we haven't found that person until Djokovic, because he's a flat ball hitter. He keeps it wide and he can do it consistently now like nobody else has done really that I can identify in history. Nadal has over the years adapted his game to his competition, there's no question about that. But Federer doesn't have the flat ball hit particularly off the backhand side, so that was a vulnerable side for him, and that's how Nadal was able to get the better of him. But he cannot do that against Djokovic. He wants to. He wants to figure him out. But it's going to be very difficult for him to do that as long as Djokovic stays healthy because this kid has got the flat ball."