New York, Sep. 13 : Serbian Novak Djokovic defeated Spaniard Rafael Nadal in an epic U S Open final on Monday.Djokovic beat Nadal in four sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1, but it was more like a five-setter in its intensity.
According to The Telegraph, the match lasted four hours and ten minutes.
In each of the three sets, Nadal broke Djokovic's serve early on and gave himself the chance of taking control. On each occasion, Djokovic broke straight back again, wrestling the mighty Spaniard back with a focus that can only stem from absolute self-belief.
There were so many extraordinary moments in this final, so many apparently unreturnable shots that were sent back with interest.
Nadal, serving for 3-0, had game point thrice and break point five times. And then, in a rally that just kept giving, Djokovic retrieved three lost causes until a disbelieving Nadal finally dumped a smash into the net.
Nadal will go away listed as the loser of this match yet he was almost as immovable as Djokovic. He did perhaps start a little slowly, making only 58 per cent of his first serves in the first set and struggling to find the necessary depth with his backhand.
As it stretched past the three-hour mark, one might have expected the players to become weary and erratic. Instead they achieved a zen-like focus, entering that glassy-eyed place that athletes call "the zone".
In some of their exchanges, you wondered whether we would we would have to wait until dawn for one of them to miss.
At the peaks of the performance, points were constructed with a skill and ingenuity that made any normal tennis match look crude, like a wooden shack alongside a cathedral.
This final was a magnificent conclusion to what has been a flawed yet never less than fascinating tournament.
Previous Article
Post a Comment