It was the third final played on a Monday in a row. In 2008, rain on a Saturday pushed the Nadal-Murray semis to a Sunday which pushed the finals to a Monday. In 2009, Nadal-Gonzalez was rained out on a Thursday, but Friday was washed out so despite a 34 minute conclusion, Nadal was not asked to play a semifinal. The semifinals were pushed to Sunday and the finals to Monday.
And then, this year, rain postponed the final on Sunday to Monday, and again, Nadal was involved or partly involved.
The US Open was the last title that Nadal was seeking. He had won Australia once, Wimbledon twice, and the French five times. The US Open? He hadn’t reached the final. Twice he reached the semifinals, but twice he was denied, once by Murray and once by del Potro.
But today, Nadal played relentless tennis.
Nadal had dropped serve twice all tournament long. He had not dropped a set. Djokovic would prove a level better than his previous opponents. He would break Rafa three times. One more than his previous six opponents played together.
Nadal had taken the first set with Djokovic having broken once and Nadal twice. It was 4-all, 30-all in the second set when the rains came. The match was delayed 2 hours before the players returned. Djokovic had to work to hold this game and get to 5-4. Nadal would get to 5-all, then Djokovic to 6-5 before Djokovic finally managed to break and win his only set.
Nadal had plenty of looks at breaking Djokovic, and it was all Djokovic could do to hold serve again and again. Nadal only won 6 of 26 break points, but this was because he gave himself so many opportunities and Djokovic had to work hard just to keep in the match. Djokovic must have felt what Soderling felt. As hard as you hit, as many winners as you hit, Nadal makes you hit more. It’s so hard to hit that well and not make errors, and Nadal is just so stingy when it comes to errors. He makes you hit lots of balls and chases down a lot of balls.
In the third set, in particular, Nadal kept threatening a second break of Djokovic’s serve, and yet, Djokovic had a tough time getting a break point on Rafa’s serve.
At this point, he’s 3 Slams ahead of Roger at the same age. He’s won a small Slam (3 Slams in one year) and the first time a small Slam has been won on three different surfaces ever. Rod Laver’s Grand Slam was won on clay and grass. Hard courts in Slams didn’t come about until the US Open first went to hardcourts in 1978.
By the time, Rafa got the second break, Novak didn’t have enough to turn the tide. He kept trying to stay in the match, but Rafa was, as usual, relentless. He’s the anti-Sampras who would give up on return games knowing full well his opponent couldn’t break. Rafa continues to try to break even as he’s up a break or two.
Novak, for his part, played pretty well. He didn’t start off well, and did better after the rain delay, but he seemed in it enough. Nadal tried to make Djokovic work hard, but for the most part, Djokovic kept in the rallies. Although the entire Djokovic clan wore shirts with Nole’s face on it (dad, mom, and brother), the gaudy shirts didn’t prove lucky enough.
The crowd seemed to sympathize with Djokovic’s effort, but in the end, Nadal was too much.
After this week, Roger Federer will once again slip to number 3 while Djokovic will go back to number 2.
Djokovic is expected to play Davis Cup at the end of the week against the Czech Republic. Nadal is likely to rest until the ATP 500s in China or Japan.
Two weeks ago, people said Federer looked in great form, and Nadal looked shaky. But with Uncle Toni around to right the ship, Nadal showed his ability to play big at the biggest moments, and Federer will have to do more soul-searching.
