French Open: Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal 6/11/21 Tennis Prediction

Novak Djokovic (1) meets Rafael Nadal (3) in the semi finals of the 2021 French Open on Friday, June 11th 2021.

We are in for an extremely entertaining encounter as these two players meet for the 58^th time in their career. Will it be the 14^th Final here in Paris for Nadal or will Novak Djokovic be able to give Nadal only his 3^rd ever loss at the French Open in shocking fashion?

Novak Djokovic had to fight through a very tough match in the quarter finals against Matteo Berrettini, having to finish playing at midnight after winning in 4 sets 6-3/6-2/6-7/7-5. Although Novak won, the match did not give me much confidence in his game. Novak was very inconsistent in his service games, not being able to hold as easily as you would expect him to, whilst also losing his temper towards the end of the match when he was missing chances. Berrettini really handed Novak the match in the last set, but he won’t be handed anything here against Nadal.

Rafael Nadal also had to come through a 4 set match in the quarter finals, beating Diego Schwartzman 6-3/4-6/6-4/6-0. This match although it was also 4 sets was a much more dominant performance by Rafa. Rafa was able to keep up with the incredible return and game of Diego who was just on fire in that match, and he was able to increase his level to absolutely dominate in the third and fourth set. Nadal will not let anyone beat him in that form that he showed everyone, and that wasn’t even his best level just yet.

This is going to be the 58^th meeting between both players, with Novak having won only 1 more match than Nadal (29-28). I think Rafa has showed us more consistency here in Paris, only losing 1 set along the way against an on fire Diego Schwartzman, whilst Novak has lost 3 sets in just his last 2 matches. Rafael Nadal will continue to dominate here in Paris and get himself into the final so he can have a chance to win his 14^th title here as well as his 21^st grand slam title overall.