It looked like Rafael Nadal might have to answer a whole bunch of questions about his form–or lack thereof–upon his arrival at Roland Garros later this month.
That’s no longer the case after what transpired at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia this week.
Nadal captured an elusive first clay-court title of 2019 and triumphed in Rome for the ninth time in his career when he held off Novak Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in a final that lasted two hours and 25 minutes.
Despite losing in the semifinals of Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid while being saddled with a 3-13 record in his last 16 showdowns against Djokovic heading into Sunday’s final, Nadal was without question the odds-on favorite in this one. That’s because whereas he had dominated all four of his previous Rome matches in routine straight sets, Djokovic was coming off consecutive three-setters against Argentines Juan Martin Del Potro and Diego Schwartzman. The world No. 1’s quarterfinal defeat of Del Potro–in which he saved two match points–required more than three hours.
Nadal played like the favorite, too, especially in the early stages. The second seed surrendered just three points on serve in the opening set while breaking serve three times. Djokovic briefly righted the ship by fighting off four break points midway through the second set and then finally breaking Nadal at 5-4 to force a third.
In the end, though, Nadal’s first-set dominance returned. The Spaniard broke Djokovic right away in the decider and never looked back, adding two more breaks to his cause while losing only six service points.
“What means most to me is this trophy,” Nadal said. “Rome is one of the most important tournaments of the year. [It’s a big] part of the history of our sport. To be able to win here again is the main thing…. [I’m] happy for the title more than winning against Novak. I am especially happy because the level was very high.”
“I’m really glad that I managed to get into the third set, considering the first set where I was blown away from the court,” Djokovic reflected. “Obviously third set was not much different from the first,” Djokovic said. “I was just running out of fuel a little bit today; just kind of missed that half a step, especially on the backhand side. He used it very well.
“He’s been playing some terrific tennis throughout the entire week. He was just too strong today.”
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nice one, Rafa
Grats to Rafa!
For the record, a tournament like this one is why Rafans keep on believing even when our champ is not (yet) at his best.
Crazy that now Rafa and Djoko (soon) will have double the masters titles that Agassi has. Agassi’s was the record till three guys have surpassed him in one generation. Since Rafa won his first clay masters title, he has won 25 of the 43 clay masters that he participated in. 😳 mind boggling numbers.
Vamos Rafa…just too strong…”what happened in Rome happened!”