Nadal Completes Career Grand Titles
Nadal biting the missing trophy
Federer was probably shopping while top seeded ATP played his best tennis ever on Monday. Rafa Nadal defeated third ranked Novak Djokovic at the US Open final 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to finally complete his Grand Slam titles. He has never won under the Flushing Meadows sun. Or rain. Thus, the 23-year-old Spaniard became the seventh man in tennis history who takes all the four Grand Slam titles, the Sustralian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Still, there were both players who came in New York their best tennis in the bag. The 24-year-old Serbian just beat Roger Federer to try also to win his first US Open final. He has taken only the Australian Open two years ago.
It was also the second times when Djokovic tried to win in New York after failing in 2007, too. Nadal also had to wait until 2009 to win his first Australian Open. 2010 is his best year though. The young Spanish player started winning all the Grand Slams with the French Open. It followed Wimbledon and now US Open. If his wins the 2011 Australian Open, too then Nadal will make history taking all the four Grands consecutively in just one year. However, so far, so good for him. He will be also the youngest player to take that performance. Furthermore, he became yesterday the third youngest player who completes the Grand Slam trophies. Despite the game was re-scheduled from Sunday due to rain, the same thing happened on Monday. The game got interrupted at 6-4, 4-4, 30-30 to Nadal, who would claim after the game that he is sure he’s playing simply his best tennis ever. He needed though four sets to down Djokovic who beat the Spaniard several times before. “It was amazing feeling. I think win against Novak is always very, very difficult, and the results say that lots of times, I lost against him,” Nadal said.
“So I think for the first time in my career I played a very, very good match in this tournament. I played my best match in the US Open at the most important moment, so I am very, very happy for that. It’s a dream, have the career Grand Slam, but this is more dream have the US Open,” he added. “I worked a lot all my life, in all difficult moments to be here, but I never imagined have the four Grand Slams.” The five time winner at Paris Grand Slam entered the final fresher, taking account he ousted Russian Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets in the semi final, unlike Djokovic who needed all the sets in order to provide the surprise to defeat Federer and break the ‘dream final’ dream the many expected. Djokovic assumed the defeat in front of Nadal whom he credited instead of blaming his personal playing or whatsoever. “He has the capabilities already now to become the best player ever. I think he’s playing the best tennis that I ever seen him play on hardcourts. He has improved his serve drastically. The speed, the accuracy, and of course his baseline is as good as ever.”
Great-shaped, the two offered a real show, especially the Spaniard who simply fired many winners to stun the Serbian and make him even break his racket. “I was feeling good on the court tonight from a physical perspective and just running all over the court and getting a lot of balls back. It was just a pleasure performing in front of the people who enjoy tennis so much and support the players,” Djokovic added. Nadal instead played his best tennis once he arrived at Flushing Meadows. Not losing any set until the final says a lot about his condition and concentration. Or about his simply desire to take finally the Grand Slam he always dreamed of. The US Open surface helped a lot the Spaniard who was able to put in value his speed, too. “I think the hardcourt always was the most difficult surface to play good for me, especially with the serve, because I have to play almost every point, and probably the serve make the big difference in this tournament. For me, the most important thing (going forward) is try to keep serving like I did during this tournament. If I can do it, this most of the times gonna be a big change for me and my tennis career because if I have that free points that I had during all this tournament gonna be different for me. I can play more aggressive. I can play with more calm when I am returning,” Nadal declared.
Now that he won the only missing Grand Slam, Nadal remains top of the ATP table, followed by the Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The Swiss declared after losing in front of the Serbian he probably wanted the most to play the final against Nadal, but also complained that for five or six years he tried hard to reach and win the final at US Open, while the Spaniard barely reached the semis until this year. Federer claimed after exited that although he won’t be watching the final he’ll encourage Nadal to take the title. However, Djokovic revealed he lost focus during the third and fourth set, thing which might have put him into frustration, if not weakness. “For me, in order to win against (Nadal) tonight, I had to be on the top of my game. I was playing really well for most of the match, but then there were some moments in, let’s say, third and fourth set where I dropped my focus a little bit. I dropped my level of game and just a little bit on service games. It went for me. He took it away, and he never gave me a chance to go back,” the Serbian explained.
He also had a big chance in the third set, but Nadal canceled all of them by delivering three fantastic serves when downed 15-30, 4-5. “I had this 15-30 chance in 5-4 third set, and then he served, I mean, three amazing serves. So I think that’s one of the key factors today in his win, except an amazing baseline game, of course, and great coverage of the court. The serve was fantastic the whole tournament.” Nadal delivered 49 winners and committed 31 unforced errors, unlike Serbian’s 45 and 47. The Spaniard also sent his fastest serve at 132 mph, winning 73 percent of his first serves. Nadal took the control of the game in fourth set when he went 3-1 to leave Djokovic on the road. Finally, a long line went off the line as Nadal collapsed in a cry. His showcase includes now one Australian Open trophy, one US Open, two Wimbledon and five French Grands.
“Ten months ago seems like I never gonna be another time the same. Now seems I gonna be one of the greatest. Last year I had a difficult year. Well, I had a great year because when you win a Grand Slam (the Australian Open) and three Masters 1000, you have a great year, but is true the second half of the year was very difficult for me, have some personal problems, home, and after, I have a lot of injuries, here the abdominal, before, the knees. My goal is all the time and all my life was the same, is keep improving and feel myself better player next year than what I felt this year,” Nadal ended.
