(photos courtesy of Miami Tennis News)
Novak Djokovic completed a three-peat at the Miami Open and won the event for the sixth time in his career by beating Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday afternoon. Djokovic got off to a relatively slow start and donated serve twice in the first set but ended up rolling to the title in one hour and 26 minutes.
Nishikori broke right away at love for a quick 1-0 lead in the opener only to give it right back. The world No. 1 soon found himself trailing by a break before getting the best of the Djokovic serve again at 2-4. A somewhat bizarre opening set saw Nishikori win eight return points–all of which came in two love breaks. Djokovic held his other three service games at love.
The second frame of play was more straightforward, with the world No. 1 surrendering a mere four points on serve. Two breaks were more than enough for Djokovic, who coasted to the finish line as Nishikori began struggling with an apparent knee issue.
Final highlights:
“I thought he started very well breaking my serve in the first game and coming out with some big forehands and aggressive play,” the victor said. “I needed to answer right back, which I did in the following game…which helped me mentally to kind of continue the match in a right way. Because if you’re a break down, 2-0 down, things are a little bit different, obviously–especially against a player like Kei.
“It was best performance of the tournament (today). It came at the right time against a great, quality player.”
“I thought I wasn’t playing too bad,” Nishikori commented. “But (at the) same time, he played great tennis. So that’s why I couldn’t play what I wanted to play. Also my serve wasn’t going (well) today. So that was [a] shame to have that, because he had a great return. I felt a little pressure on my service game.”
In triumphing, Djokovic now owns sole possession of the all-time lead in Masters 1000 titles with 28. He also overtook Boris Becker for 11th place on the all-time ATP Open Era wins list with 714. Additionally, Djokovic surpassed Roger Federer for No. 1 in career prize money and pulled off the Indian Wells-Miami double for a record fourth time.
“Every year that I come back to Miami, I do go through those memories from back in 2007…the first Masters I won; (it) opened a lot of doors for me, gave me a lot of self-belief,” Djokovic concluded. “I started to realize that I’m able to win the big trophies and to beat the best players in the world. So of course this is a particular place for me to come back to, now winning it six times. Obviously I don’t take any win for granted, and especially in the big ones.”
Djokovic speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbzOFmfTWX4
Rafa is king of clay for sure but overall Novak has passed him in greatness in my humble opinion.
Not quite. Rafa is able to win the big prize on HCs but Djoko has not won his on clay.
Rafa is able to win a Masters and a Slam for consecutive ten years, something Djoko hasnt done yet. Rafa has to beat a Fed who’s in his prime for his first Wimbledon; he pushed Fed to the limit at 2007 Wimbledon and had he won that one, he would have 3 Wimbledon titles by now.
Djoko has surpassed Rafa at the Masters only now, by one; and only this year that he managed to turn the H2H in his favor, by 2 and that’s when Rafa is in a slump.
Djoko has more weeks at no.1 but Rafa had his injuries(2009/2014) which stopped him from competing and hence his drop from his no.1 ranking. The playing surfaces (mostly HCs) favor Djoko’s game and so he’s able to rake in plenty of ranking points to get to no.1.
We can see Rafa’s greatness in that despite clay making up only about a third of the overall ranking points, he still managed to become no.1 and was YE no.1 for three seasons, winning at least two slams in the season to get there (2008/2010/2013).
Rafa’s H2Hs vs his main rivals and the top ten are not bad either. His H2H vs his fellow big four at the slams is the most impressive among them.
Injuries have hindered Rafa’s career, while his rivals are busy picking up titles, ranking points and prize money. It remains to be seen, whether a fit and healthy Rafa still has it in him, to win big titles and add to his own greatness.
Rafa’s injuries stopped him from winning more? Ok what about Nole’s gluten allergies? How many more titles could he have won from 2007-2010 with that under control? The true Nole came out in 2011 and he’s been better in the past 5+ years than Rafa ever was.
filter,
Wrong again! It was not the gluten allergies that stopped Novak from winning more in 2007 – 2010! Rafa was in his prime! Fed was also in his prime for part of those years! What could you be thinking?
Rafa was just too good in that 2010 USO. Novak knew he wasn’t good enough mentally or physically, hence the need to go back to the drawing board before the 2011 season.
Then Novak got the allergies under control, came out fitter and stronger and went on that winning streak. Rafa had his own problems that year and went on a seven game winning streak. But Rafa found the answers in that 2012 AO loss and would get the better of Novak from 2012 – 2014 in the slams.
Novak has had to go back to the drawing board a few times to keep getting better in order to beat Rafa.
Rafa had the toughest task of beating Fed in his prime. Those slam wins are especially impressive, given that no one else could beat Fed at that time.
I simply cannot subscribe to your revisionist history.
Sorry, I meant to say that Rafa went on a seven game losing streak to Novak in my previous post.
That’s why Rafa has a winning h2h in slams during that time.
Seriously dude, fail better.
Please come again.
How about Rafa beating Djoko at the slams from 2012 to 2014, Djoko having gluten free diet or not?
Gluten free Djoko < peak Rafa on clay; Gluten free Djoko < peak Fed on grass and fast HCs. I thought that's obvious!
How many titles could Djoko won from 2007-2010? Not many, when we had Fed at or near his peak and Rafa at his peak.
Djoko was still struggling to beat Fed and Rafa at the slams for the past five years, how about facing them during their peak on their fave surfaces??
Lucky gets it.
(“Objective” filter doesn’t.)
The thing that made Rafa not one dimensional was winning Wimbledon twice. But he has been horrid on grass the past 5 years and Novak has won 3 Wimbledon titles.
Not until Nole bags a French.
For me, that’s what still separates Nole from Fedal.
That might change very soon but the pressure on Nole will be massive as there is the added challenge to hold all four slams at the same time, something that hasn’t been achieved in 47 years. If Nole does it, it will be the first time that it has been achieved with the slams played on three different surfaces. The pressure is somewhat less because the federazzi media has a concerted and organized effort not to even mention it instead raising the bar to the calendar slam which would end up being six slams in a row. This downplaying of the #NoleSlam by the federazzi will quite possibly backfire by removing the pressure somewhat.
If Nole does win the French to complete the career slam and more significantly hold all four slams concurrently, he will firmly be in the debate, and deservedly so.
I am with hawkeye all the way. Novak has to at least win RG to get the career slam. He is still 3 slams behind Rafa and also rafa’s record of 9 RG titles is untouchable.
Novak can get there if he can keep it up,
there is simply no way he is in the same league as Rafa yet.
@ hawks 6:16 AM,
thank you for the wise words. This is what I said the other day (only that I was a little harsh with it, I admit :-))on Nole’s achievements not being as meaningful IN TERMS OF THE GOAT DEBATE unless he wins FO this year! And I am also of the opinion that this may be his last chance to do so…I am not a Nole fan but I hang out with friends who are 95% Nole’s fans (there are 5% in total who are fans of Milos, Rafa or Fed) and I am here mostly transmitting their way of thinking…they are worried about Nole’s physical condition and him overdoing it…they say RG is equally physically and mentally difficult for Nole…and if he fails this time it will be a big disappointment for everyone…I personally think Novak is making a mistake by trying to win it all this year (meaning tournaments other than GSs)…his high level of professionalism and his desire to break all records may lead to an ultimate burnout…
And no matter what someone here (no need to point at her, she will immediately know who I am talking about!) may think or imply in terms of me wishing Novak to get injured (which is beyond comprehension that anyone would even think of accusing me of such thing!), I would never ever want Novak’s winning streak to end by him getting injured in any way…I suffered so much over Rafa’s injuries and would certainly never wish any fan to go through the similar experience…I always thought how Fed’s fans have been lucky with their fave being injury free…
Novak comes from my country and I admire and appreciate so much all of his records…he will be remembered as the best sportsman ever from the ex Yugoslavia even if he does not break Fed’s GS records…I just do not want to see him lose because he and his team did lousy scheduling…
It’s a relief to read that a certain someone would not wish any injury on Novak! Thank goodness! But this person admitted that her words were a bit harsh regarding Novak’s quest for RG and the career slam. One might be forgiven for misinterpreting her words.
I don’t think it’s this year or else for Novak winning RG. He is in his prime and not going anywhere. I think it’s got to be his best shot for sure with Rafa still not at his best. None of the top players look good now. That could certainly change.
I don’t think that Novak is making a mistake in trying to continue winning. As I have said previously, Novak has to play tournaments which are mandatory. You don’t see him playing 250 or 500 tournaments all the time. Just what he is required to play. Novak can’t just choose to sit out tournaments to save himself for the slams. It doesn’t work that way.
I think winning breeds winning. There is no down side to Novak continuing to win. He also seems to have found a balance as to how much he needs to push himself in the earlier rounds of tournaments.
Novak has the time to make his mark in this sport. Right now Rafa is not there to challenge him. He is healthy and has the time to a accomplish his goals. I don’t see why he has to view winning RG this year as do or die.
Idemo Nole ole for French Open! S’il vous plait. ? ? ? ?
When Pete Sampras won 14 GS nobody mentioned French. They said he was best ever. Period.
Actually both were mentioned.
But Sampras had the record for most slams.
They actually did mention pete’s seven Wimbledon titles, tying the record.
Pete Sampras not winning RG and the career slam is the hole in his record. He’s not the best ever because of that. Fed has surpassed him anyway.
Pete Sampras was always and is still a part of the GOAT debate. He didn’t win the French but he had thalessemia. There’s little he could do about his stamina on clay. And it was much harder to win on all surfaces in those days. Good thing, Roger being the champion that he is has not forgotten Pete. And nor will most who actually know a thing or two about the game.
Oh please give me a break! No one has forgotten about Pete Sampras! I merely said that fed has surpassed him.
If people weren’t so obsessed about the stupid GOAT debate, then we could all sit back and relax and enjoy the accomplishments of the greatest to ever play this game.
Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are all in that group!
Pete was my all time favourite. Still might be. Hard to say between him and Rafa.
That said, I begrudgingly admitted to myself that Federer surpassed Pete when he beat Roddick in the 2009 Wimby final, getting the channel slam, the career slam and passing Pete with 15 slams all over a six week period of time.
Now Rafa has passed Fed and Nole will likely pass Rafa at some point in my opinion.
It’s evolution baby.
Look I know I am not going to change any minds of the heavily-biased Rafanatics here. I would put Nole as only about my 10th favorite player (hence no where near as biased as you all) but I do think what the guy is doing is incredible and he is not getting enough credit for it. Call it revisionist history if you will but it’s just my perspective/opinion.
” I do think what the guy is doing is incredible and he is not getting enough credit for it. ”
Yup, couldn’t agree more.
Almost as incredible as Fedal.
If he wins the French this year, one might argue at least equally incredible IMO.
However, if you started with that opening statement instead of setting Rafa as the standard and trying to put down Rafa in the process, there would’t have been much argument but, as usual, you’re hell bent on the former.
I am getting it from both sides! I have some Rafa fans accusing me of being a Novak fan because I have given him credit for his achievements. But the I am accused of being just another biased Rafanatic!
It’s really kind of funny. Someone clearly has not read my comments about Novak. I am not taking anything away from him at all.
However, when I read comments disparaging rafa’s record and building up Novak at his expense, I have a problem with that.
In the end, we can see it all play out in real time. We don’t know yet what more Novak will achieve. We have to wait and see. But trying to downplay or minimize what Rafa has done in relation to Novak, just doesn’t sit well with me.
So if he wins 7 more GS and 10 more Masters 1000 but no French he’s not the greatest? Seriously?
Straw man argument.
Didn’t say that.
But 11 slams with no French simply doesn’t quite get him there.
You won’t even convince any but the most extreme Nole fans let alone Rafans of that lol.
Federer has 17 and a career Grand Slam. So Djokovic has to win six more with at least 1 being the French in order to be in the serious discussion.
No.
We all know Roger won a French due to Robin Hood Soderling aka dumb luck. At least Nole has a FO win over Rafa.
All the more reason for Novak to have won RG last year after beating Rafa!
There is no requirement that one has to beat Rafa to win RG. It’s not Fed’s fault that Rafa lost to Sod in the fourth round. Sod played the match of his life and beat a Rafa who was hampered with knee tendinitis.
Fed won RG fair and square. You play the opponent who gets through.
Who thought that Stan was going to beat Novak in the RG final last year? That’s on Novak because it was there for the taking. He didn’t get it done.
I don’t know why we have to nitpick here. When you get to the final of a slam and beat your opponent then that’s it. Fed did that.
Are we supposed to give Novak a moral victory for beating Rafa in the quarterfinals at RG? Unfortunately, that wasn’t the final.
Do you give Wawa full credit AO 2014 title? Curious…….
Yup. full credit. Especially after he won the French. Proved that he was the real deal.
@ Ricky 4:28 AM,
agree…
The fact that Rafa was part of the discussion when he had four less slams than fed prove that is not the case.
Nadal is not a part of that discussion anymore. He was a part of the discussion when people thought he was set to tie Federer despite and even then, there was little agreement on it.
Wrong. Agassi has already said Rafa was the best ever on their existing records.
Same for Nole and Murray.
Happy St. Roger’s Day.
Yeah and Serena just called Roger GOAT and so on……*yawn*. Nole flip flops between calling Roger/Nadal GOAT depending on who he’s playing. And the entirety of Roger’s generation thinks he’s the best ever…Anything else? The hype around Nadal seems to have died out considerably. And in the face of his clay biased record, not surprising at all. 😀 Laver won the calendar year slam twice. So yes, he’s rightfully in the discussion.
And yes, Nadal did win five slams off clay. But given the slow ass surfaces of today, you’d think he’d do better. Of course he has still not defended a title off clay.
Er..but how often Fed defended a title on clay??
Slow ass surfaces? So how great can Fed be, if he cant win on slow ass surfaces? It works both ways, a Goat should have the ability to win on both slow and fast surfaces, so Fed can only win on fast surfaces but cant on slow surfaces against the likes of Rafa and Djoko? So how come he’s called Goat?
Fed is still the only guy that has been somewhat of a rival to Djokovic despie every odd neatly stacked against him.And he’s nearly 35. So yes, he’s the GOAT.
Wasn’t aware that “somewhat of a rival to a player who hasn’t won the French is a factor in the GOAT debate. That’s quite a reach, even for a casual fedfan who can only afford to post more than once on public holidays.
You see fedfan? there is a debate and many great players past and present consider Rafa to be in the GOAT discussion.
Not everyone assumes Federer is GOAT, nor that Rafa isn’t.
Rafa passed Fed as GOAT in 2013 and has added another slam since.
Nole is well on his way to passing both.
Happy St. Roger’s day.
Fedfan (AT 11:27 AM)
—The hype around Nadal seems to have died out considerably. And in the face of his clay biased record, not surprising at all. Laver won the calendar year slam twice. —
===
.
Laver holds a grass biased record – the Australian Open and US Open were held on grass courts in 1962 & 1969.
Rod Laver is part of the discussion so there goes that theory.
Rod Laver is absolutely part of the discussion! He could only play on the surfaces that existed at that time. The key for me is that none of Laver’s peers were able to win the calendar slam. They played in the same era on the same surfaces. That was a true Golden Era of men’s tennis with the likes of Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Tony Roche, Pancho Gonzales. Stan Smith and John Newcombe. Laver played the best.
How’s Fed a rival of Djoko, when he was duly dispatched at the slams each time they met since Wimbledon 2012? I would say Stan is more a rival to Djoko, having beaten him twice at the slams including that all important FO title (important for Djoko) and each time they met at the slams, Stan pushed Djoko to the limit.
Fedfan only talk about slams counting most when it suits him.
Happy St. Roger’s Day everybody!
Agassi says:
“”It’s just remarkable to me what he has done, and he has done it all during Federer’s prime.”
“I’d put Nadal number one, Federer number two.”
“Federer separated himself from the field for four years. He separated himself from Roddick and Hewitt. Nadal had to deal with Federer, Djokovic, Murray in the golden age of tennis.
“He has won multiple majors, every single one (more than once) except the Australian Open – and give him another year on that. It’s just remarkable to me what he has done, and he has done it all during Federer’s prime.”
Happy Ex-GOAT Day everybody!
Andre has had a history of having an inferiority complex versus players clearly superior to him. I don’t know when exactly he said this, but it would not surprise me at all to see him with a different stand the next time he’s asked this question. Likewise for Mac. When I see Laver’s clear admiration for Roger, that to me, is really all that I need to know. He is always understated and was for the longest time the ultimate yardstick in the game. And to an extent still is. Same with Edberg. His opinion matters to me because of how low key he is in the press. I know he wouldn’t say something just to stay relevant. Andre on the other hand, might say whatever in the press but his behaviour towards both Nadal and Pete was deplorable in that Haiti exho to the point where Roger politely asked him to behave. So it’s blank words to me.
Shocker.
Happy St. Roger’s Day!!!
Fedfan (AT 5:43 PM)
—his behaviour towards both Nadal and Pete was deplorable in that Haiti exho…—
===
.
Towards Rafa ??? It had nothing to do with Rafa! Agassi and Sampras poked fun at each other & insulted each other.
Have you not read his book Open? Nobody should listen to a drug addict.
Drug addict lol.
https://m.youtube.com/
That did not work right.