Rafael Nadal triumphs at the U.S. Open by holding off Novak Djokovic for a four-set win on Monday. Despite not playing the Australian Open at the beginning of 2013, Nadal will finish the season with two Grand Slam titles.
Rafael Nadal captured his second U.S. Open title by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday night. Nadal survived a wild, back-and-forth second set en route to victory after three hours and 21 minutes.
The world No. 1 found his range in set two, firing 15 winners–more than double Nadal’s total. Djokovic missed two break-point opportunities at 1-0, but he really sank his teeth into the match when he finally broke Nadal at 3-2.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdjNghcCNPU]
It hardly mattered when Djokovic donated his own serve one game later, because arguably the best returner in tennis was in rare form even by his standards. Nadal had been broken only once in the entire tournament prior to the final, but he lost his serve three times to Djokovic. All three breaks came in succession: at 2-3, 3-4, and again in the first game of the third set.
The third, however, ultimately provided some of the most tense drama of the tennis year. Nadal fought off one break point at 0-2 to stay within striking distance before getting the break back at 2-3. That set the stage for the turning point of the match–Nadal’s service game at 4-4. The second-ranked Spaniard dug out of a 0-40 hole, saving break points with a forehand winner, a netted Djokovic forehand, and an ace. Nadal promptly broke one game later to steal the set from just about out of nowhere, clinching it with a heavy forehand.
Perhaps stunned by the quick turn of events, Djokovic could not recover for the fourth. New York’s top seed watched a Nadal forehand fly past him on break point at 0-1 and from there it was all over. Nadal made only three unforced errors in set four and lost a mere three points in his last three service games. He capitalized on his first championship point at 5-1, 40-15 when a Djokovic forehand caught the tape.
It is Nadal’s second U.S. Open title and first since 2010. The former and likely soon-to-be world No. 1 now owns 13 Grand Slam titles, trailing only Roger Federer (17) and Pete Sampras (14). Djokovic, meanwhile, is now 6-6 lifetime in major finals.
last game of the match:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYvlQnJW32g]
^^^the end of the last sentence went missing:
………. but for the vast majority I suspect it is driven more by worry at the prospect their hero might lose than a feeling of empathy with the man himself.
ed, WOW…you have seen so many eras and so many legends ! I am quite young so I have only read about the past champs….i have read A LOT but watching them play would have been so much more awesome..i wud like to listen to your viewpoints on some of the topics I want to discuss from the past… hope you can spend some time 😀
and yeah, HUGE respect for rafa and nole
Happy to any time
I think hitting that massive forehand DTL at 0-40 and the only 125 mph ace doesnt the T at 30-40 is some of the gutsiest play ever seen. A they say it is not the number of winners or number of Aces, it is the timing that matters. Rafa hit them when it mattered and played the big points very well.
Also Djoo just dumping a FH into the net 30-40 in the game said a lot about Djoko, he wasn’t confident though he had 2 BPs
Sanju,
Well said. I watched the match again today. That third set is such a revelation. Rafa’s body language throughout that set was simply extraordinary. He just would not allow Djoker to take that set. It was not going to happen. His intensity when he walks around the court shaking his head fiercely and talking to himself and pumping both arms, is just something to see. That’s how he made those great shots when he needed them the most. He made it happen. Simply marvelous.
the forehand at 0-40 was just unbelievable. Djokovic hit a PERFECT return.
Ed and I have chatted about the great champions from the past on a few occasions. I also discussed it with luckstar many times. I could talk about them forever.
I grew up watching Rod Laver. He was my idol as a child. I thought he was a God. There was no one else like him. This was a Golden Age of men’s tennis, but I was too young to really understand it. Now looking back, I realize how we were spoiled by so many great champions. It was an abundance of riches. Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Pancho Gonzales, Arthur Ashe, not a weak player in the bunch.
I talked often on TT about Borg as my first tennis love. That was special. Then I supported Lendl after Borg walked away, but I never felt anywhere near the same about him. After that it was a long drought and the feeling that I would never find that special favorite again.
Until 2007 when finally I gave in to people urging me to watch this young Spanish player named Nadal. The minute I saw him, I knew that I had found my second great tennis love. It’s been really a privilege to experience something like that again in my life.
I just want to enjoy moments like this with Rafa’s great year and now the victory at the USO. It’s special.
Uncle Toni has opened his big mouth and says 17 slams in now possible for Rafa.
Had to be him, Rafa himself would not say so.
I quite like hearing Uncle Toni saying this! It puts pressure on the rest, about time. Of course anything can happen, not guaranteed that Rafa will play as an and when he likes but this serves warning to the rest of the field that he means business. And yes, it’s better coming from Uncle T than Rafa.
The icing on the cake? It will really make Fedfans seethe with anger…….!
Also, I think what Uncle Toni is saying is Rafa has solved the Nole 2011 puzzle and he feels confident against the rest of the field.
@ed
Re Andy: I’ve NEVER felt this way about any other player. In fact it’s just plain daft that I care so much when he loses. Though it has got a lot better after this last year thank goodness;)
Nothing to do with him being British, that’s just a happy coincidence. It’s all about the “journey” yuk that word, I know. His talent, his struggles, his courage, his humour, his honesty, his tears, his determination to be his own man and so on.
Loved Mac best before then, but nothing like this!
I think it’s interesting that Uncle Toni has spoken up about Rafa equaling Fed’s record of 17 slams. He is normally very cautious in his words. He must be feeling awfully good right now!
As long as Rafa is healthy, there is no telling what he can accomplish. I think that the Nole 2011 puzzle was solved for two reasons. First, Rafa figured out how to beat this new, improved version. He realized that he had to make some changes because he had become too predictable. Second, the 2011 Nole is no longer here. Even in 2012, Djoker could still beat opponents when not playing his best with his mental strength. But that has deserted him this year in too many matches.
Now it’s going to be up to Djoker to figure it out. It’s his turn to deal with the 2013 Rafa puzzle! 🙂
My 2 cents:
1. Djoker 2011 is not coming back, we are only going to see glimpses of it over the course of a set, 2 sets and then he comes back to earth. Btw, this was the Djokovic pattern pre 2011 so, normal service has resumed. This is why Uncle Toni is feeling confident. This Djoker is good for best of 3 sets, best of 5 Rafa has a great chance.
2. To improve, Djoker needs to take a page out of the Rafa p,ay book: practice, practice, practice his bread and butter shots and eliminate UEs. Trying out new shots is a waste of time, he just needs to bed down, practice and get his money shots landing inside the tram lines! This means spending less time learning dance routines to humiliate lesser opponents with.
3. Djoker needs to work on his transition game. Blasting opponents from the baseline is too risky a strategy, hence the high UEs, he needs to finish off points more quickly and that means coming to the net intelligently and more frequently I.e. transitioning to the net. I cannot for the life of me understand why he does not play doubles more often. Why he hell has Vajda not worked on this? Uncle Toni (the Genius) has been working on this aspect with Rafa for years, that is why Rafa is now considered one of the best volleyers in the business.
4. While Djokovic’s sliding is awe-inspiring, it is not a substitute for good movement on the court, and this he just does not have. If you want to see good movement on court, watch Rafa. Watching Rafa dance around the baseline is akin to watching Muhammad Ali or Sugar Ray Leonard dance around a boxing ring, cutting out the opponent’s angles.
5. Rafa should patent his FHDL, how the hell do you negate that? By hitting to his BH? Sorry, tried and tested, ineffective now because Rafa has transformed that from a defensive to an offensive shot.
6. Djokovic’s temperament does not lend itself to the kind of mental strength we see in Rafa. Djokovic wants to be loved, and if he does not feel that love coming, he frets and this affects his focus. Rafa, otoh, is able to block out each and all distractions, positively reptilian.
Australian Open 2014 will be the OK Coral for Djokovic. Should he have the misfortune of running into Rafa there and lose, I suspect he will take a long break from the game. Personally, I think he should take it now and work on finding a way to counter Rafa 3.0
10/10 RITB!
Djokovic has to reinvent himself. You make an Interesting point about his demeanour when he is not getting support from the crowd. He spends too much of his energy courting popularity. Has done right from the beginning of his career. But what was once amusing (to some people) is now forced and contrived – not to mention cringe-making. But in his defence, I suspect he is often put up to these stunts by the organisers: if this is the case, he should learn to say no.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/rafael-nadal-might-just-be-the-best-ever/279505/
Thanks for the link. A good read.
But fellow rafans please spare Tenngrand from the Goatdom debate raging everywhere else on the internet. It can only lead to acrimony and endless circular arguments. Just let’s be thankful the clamour in favour of Federer is abating.
I warmed up to tennis thanks to McEnroe – Lendl era. I came a bit late for Borg although I did see him playing but was too young to care much. Also loved watching S. Graff and Navratilova – funny I don’t really care much about women’s tennis nowadays (after Henin retired).
I loved Becker’s diving and Chang’s cheeky play and Cash’s outback attitude and Agassi’s returns and a whole lot of other things.
Federer-Nadal was a great rivalrly and the same goes now for Djokovic-Nadal.
Tennis is just a wonderful sport.
Thanks ed251137! Regarding Novak’s crowd pleasing antics, especially during a match, surely this is something a good coach can simply say no more, or am I being too naive?
As far as Rafa is concerned, his RG 2014 defense starts in Australia 2014. He wins Oz 2014, with or without beating Novak, he puts a major dent in Novak’s confidence going to Paris. And the challenge for Novak is he not only has to worry about Rafa, he has Muzza on his case too. I think Muzza relishes beating Novak because of the same-age thing.
Ha, Ha. This does’t get talked about that much because of Djokovic’s Slam tally but Andy has always been able to go toe to toe with him.
He was pushing Djoko to the limit in the last AO final. Dont normally indulge in ‘what-ifs’ but for his blistered feet (had to look away when the camera zoomed in) I think Andy might well have prevailed.
Now he has got his one-step forward two-steps back dance routine out of the way I’m anticipating another leap forward from Andy at the Asian swing 🙂 although Rafa may thwart him – he has his eye on that No.1 spot!
Rafa will play Sergiy Stakhovsky tomorrow:
http://www.daviscup.com/en/draws-results/tie/details.aspx?tieId=100019832
(Sergiy Stakhovsky conquered Fed in Wimbledon)
Worried about Verdasco. He’s so unpredictable these days but I remember when he saved the day in Argentinia (Rafa was sidelined because of his knees) so let’s hope he rises to the occasion this weekend. He came off that victory and played lights out tennis at that memorable SF against Rafa few weeks later at the 2009 AO.
http://www.insidetennis.com/2013/09/12528/
“Ten days ago, as I wandered through the US Open players lounge—amidst the usual blur of coaches, girlfriends, and hangers-on—an over-the-top player was playing foosball with two young American kids. It was loud, intense and fun. An adolescent glee-fest arose from the din—such joy.
No one knew who those two kids were. Everyone knew who the player was: Rafa Nadal.
Elated and captivated by the intensity of the game, here was an unbridled delight. One of the world’s most celebrated sportsmen seemed to be but a boy: simple, uncomplicated and captivated by the pleasure of play.
Such is Rafa Nadal, a man with few of the nuances of the comic and occasionally philosophical Novak Djokovic. A happy lad, free of the sullen moods of Scot Andy Murray, and the occasional flashes of metro self-absorption by Roger Federer.”
Lovely piece by Bill Simons. Says it all so eloquently.
Article.
—the-top player was playing foosball with two young American kids…No one knew who those two kids were. Everyone knew who the player was: Rafa Nadal.—
I think, they were U.Toni’s kids.
—He [Rafa] briefly played right-handed—
It’s not true – he used the TWO-handed forehand. U.Toni told him to choose his one hand, and Rafa preferred his left one, because it’s stronger. (His left foot his also stronger than his right foot – he kicks football with his left foot)
— He [Rafa] was born on an island [Mallorca] in the Mediterranean—hardly a tennis factory—
Mallorca is not a tennis factory, but it has produced two world No. 1 in tennis – Carlos Moya and Rafa.
http://www.insidetennis.com/2013/09/12528/
Nadal vs. Stako preview (and Verdasco-Dolgo) – https://tenngrand.com/2013/09/12/davis-cup-previews-and-picks-nadal-vs-stakhovsky-verdasco-vs-dolgopolov/
Here’s an insight into Rafa’s improved BH, and why those who were hoping for his knees to capitulate early may be driven to despair:
“In a pre-match interview before the US open final, Rafael Nadal said, “My backhand has completely changed from what it was two years ago, no? I now transfer weight onto my right leg to protect my left knee.”
No wonder Uncle Toni is up-beat!
http://www.dawn.com/news/1042410/nadal-god-mustve-had-a-plan
Vamos!
I don’t know that I agree about what Djoker has to do in order to get himself together. If I am being honest, I also don’t know that I care. It’s his problem. I am just happy that Rafa has managed to get the better of him and turned it all around. After seven straight losses, three in slam finals, other players would have given up. But Rafa is a genius at finding solutions. He perseveres and never gives up.
Djoker’s answer was to bring on another coach. That was supposedly to counter Lendl as Andy’s coach. Whatever it was, the core problems were not resolved. Djoker doesn’t have the mental strength and belief in the critical points in matches. It’s not just in slam matches either. It happened to him in the Montreal semifinal with Rafa. Djoker just collapsed in that final tb. That’s not like him.
I think Djoker showed in the USO final, that when he plays his best tennis he is almost unbeatable. Even Rafa said as much. But Rafa also knew that he could not keep it up, just as he cannot keep up his best when they play each other. So Rafa stayed close and waited for his opportunity. He was thinking and planning and doing what he had to do to ride it out.
It was interesting watching the replay on the tennis channel yesterday. Different commentators. I think it was Jim Courier and Justin Gimelstob. They kept saying in the third set that Djoker was letting Rafa take it away from him. I do not agree with that assessment. Rafa was able to play well enough to hang close with Djoker. But he was the mentally stronger player when it counted, down at 4-4, 0-40. That was the critical moment and Rafa played his best at that time.
Djoker may be suffering from some kind of burnout. I have noticed this year in his matches that he cannot beat players from the baseline the way he did in 2011. Last year he didn’t play as well as he did in 2011, but that was inevitable. Other players were also stepping it up. Murray is one who has really come into his own in the last year or so with Lendl’s help. But in 2012, I was impressed with Djoker’s mental toughness with the match on the line. Now that has pretty much disappeared. You never used to see Djoker double faulting away breaks of serve or not being able to serve it out when up a break to get the set or the win. I believe that is a mental issue. Djoker looked great at the USO until he bumped up against Youzhny and basically gave him a set. Then against Stan we all know what happened.
The bottom line is that Rafa has emerged triumphant. He was willing to find the answers and believed in himself. It has paid off handsomely.
NNY: You’re not making a very good job of concealing your glee that the Egg Man got egg on his face ?
ed,
No, I am not, am I! 🙂
here’s an SI roundtable that I took part in, recapping the USO – http://tennis.si.com/2013/09/12/us-open-roundtable-roger-federer-serena-williams-rafael-nadal/
Ricky,
That was an interesting discussion. I got to hear more of what you really think!
I forgot to ask you something. Why did you say that Rafa better not play those two tournaments coming up?
why SHOULD he is the better question!
thumbs up
wc0206@September 12, 2013 at 7:12 pm
China Open and Swiss Indoors are ATP-500 tournaments. Rafa has to play at least one of them, otherwise he’ll receive a ‘0 point ranking penalty’ – for not playing an ATP-500 event after the US Open. The duration of the penalty is 52 weeks. Currently, he has two penalties that will expire in October. Because of a penalty (received in 2012) the 150 points he earned in Vina del Mar this year are not counted in his rankings. He could have been world No. 1 this week!
inconsequential amount of points for people ranked that high. take the penalty.
wc0206@September 12, 2013 at 7:12 pm
I have already written that Rafa has a chance to become world No.1 in Beijing (at the China Open).
doesn’t matter when it happens, as long as its before the end of the year. and its clear that will happen.
Shirling: Since you were a cowardy, cowardy custard and chickened out of watching the whole match – if you’ve not already watched a replay you can catch it on Eurosport Player until Saturday.
shirling: have just checked it out and sadly they only feature from 5th game set 3 onwards. I was wrong about up until Saturday. It can be viewed up until Sunday.
Shirling
The video also includes the Talking Heads discussion at the end of the match. I have revised my opinion about Marion B – clearly the outfit for her first appearance was chosen by a junior fashion stylist trying to make a statement. She scrubs up well and looks good on camera. Even more importantly, she talks well and very fluently about the tennis. I see a bright future for her as a commentator.
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/09/12/rafael-nadal-the-ultimate-point-miester/