Yes?
Fact that he mentally owns Nadal not too dissimilarly from the way Nadal owns Federer, Djokovic may still have a realistic shot.
That nugget is potent enough to neutralize ALL other indicators currently favoring Nadal - barely.
However, Nadal is clearly hungrier and the title is FAR more consequential, meaningful and weighty to him - for obvious freaking reasons.
Djokovic appears plateauing if not declining having achieved what many may consider impossible @ age 31 thereby limiting how 'far' this AO title will go for him with respect to real needle movement considering his chances of winning another Slam may be over thereby transforming this into a not so worthwhile exercise - in the long run - unlike Nadal.
Translation: TONS of intangibles are in play that may or may not need the validation of stats and other physical reinforcement to produce the end result.
Nadal has this added motivation of defeating Djokovic @ his 'Home' thereby adding what he did to grandpa @ Wimbledon - in his prime - to further advance his GOAT (a) claim if he ever gets there.
Of course, he also has a fairly realistic carrot of getting to No. 19 before 2019 ends. 20????
And then there are the other glaring pieces like the second Career Slam, No. 18, winning AO without losing a set (???????) - something even Djokovic hasn't done AND Federer did it just once - in his prime. Nadal is not only not in his prime, this is hard court and his least favorite Slam.
Bottom line: It's not as clear cut as it may appear on paper. BOTH clowns know it and will assert their advantage early in the match to capitalize and win - psychologically.
