A French fortnight ago, Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic to win his second US Open title. Any of you who watched it will have immediately noticed that I’ve potentially made one of the biggest understatements of the year with that statement.
Not only did Nadal beat Djokovic, he outplayed him in almost every way possible. No matter what Djokovic did in the first, third and fourth sets, Nadal would do something better. Nadal’s playing style was more like one of the lower-ranked players who quite simply try to hit a winner every shot. They play tennis with less brain and more brawn.
However, not only did Nadal play with some of the greatest brawn seen on a tennis court, he combined with just enough brainpower to produce the perfect tennis equation.
The final itself was, inevitably, a battle of wills. Whomever just decided to win the point was going to win it. Nadal’s sheer determination to prove his doubters wrong caused almost every rally wrong. His trying to hit a winner every point could’ve easily gone horribly wrong, but for whatever reason almost every shot went in. In the second set, Nadal lost because some of those wonder shots weren’t going in (coupled with Djokovic playing some truly sensational tennis), but otherwise Nadal could do no wrong.
Mind you, it’s not like Djokovic just rolled over and died, it’s just that no matter how strongly Djokovic wouldn’t take no for an answer, Nadal’s aforementioned brawn caused him to open the proverbial door, take it off its hinges and go home with it. Take the fifty-four shot rally. Djokovic played some of the most perfect shots imaginable and yet Nadal would either just return as if they were warming up or he would smash it back at him with even more venom.
He didn’t just save his best tennis until the final either. After gliding through the first four rounds with only one set dropped, Nadal met the Federer-destroying Tommy Robredo in the Quarter-Final. What happened next was actually a bit embarrassing for the viewer to watch. The score read 6-0, 6-2, 6-2, but frankly 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 wouldn’t reflect on the flow of the match properly enough. Robredo would’ve been forgiven for walking off the court the way Nadal kept on finding new ways to destroy him.
In the Semi-Final, things didn’t get much better. Richard Gasquet was able to give Nadal a game at times, but it was still all too easy for him as he glided past in straight sets. Djokovic himself was a little lucky to get away with a set, but he played some truly fantastic tennis.
So, why did anyone doubt Rafael Nadal? Before the French Open this year, Nadal sustained one of many knee injuries. However, this one had ruled him out since his embarrassing defeat to Lukas Rosol during the Wimbledon Championships whilst Bradley Wiggins was strolling to victory in the Tour de France.
When he came to the French Open, despite it being the one tournament which is almost invariably won by him, very few believed he’d be able to win an eight title. However, he picked it up in emphatic style; not quite as emphatic as this US Open victory, but very emphatic nonetheless. He even went as far to say afterwards that although he doesn’t like to compare years, 2013 is a very special one for him. But it was to become much more special.
Since that infamous knee injury, Rafa has won seven out of his last nine tournaments (and helped to guide Spain into the Davis Cup World Group). As Arsene Wenger would say, he has shown tremendous mental strength in coming back from all the heartbreak to win two majors in one year, along with many other tournaments.
Roger Federer has been able to reinvent himself after hardships and it looks Nadal is going to do just that. If we take away the eight French Open wins, Nadal’s major record isn’t very impressive for someone who’s meant to be one of the greatest of all time. By all means he should continue to keep winning on clay and it’ll be very entertaining to see just how many titles he can rack up, but now that he’s shown what he can do on other surfaces one really thinks that it is time for him to prove that he’s worthy of winning thirteen major titles and be as dominant as he is on clay in all the other surfaces Frankly, if he’s half as dominant he’ll be winning more major and non-major titles than you can imagine.
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