LONDON- When the first championship points for Novak Djokovic arrived less than 90 minutes into His match with Rafael Nadal, the response from the crowd at the O2 arena WAS muted and disbelieving . Could this 39th meeting Between Two titans of the modern game -one finishing one of the MOST remarkable seasons of His career , the other found a rich vein HAVING form of That HAD seen him win 21 matches since the U.S. Open really be over so Quickly ?
Not quite , as it turned out , odd goal Could Nadal Djokovic 's victory only postpone for a brief time . He made a remarkable fight to get off the second championship point the Serb goal Took The third , a 22nd straight victory , and a third ATP World Tour Finals title , 6-3 6-4.
We're used to long, convoluted encounters , full of sudden reversals and recoveries from defeat - defying thesis two, this WAS goal and wide by a straightforward victory for Djokovic. Twice , it Could have turned into a rout : Leading 3-0 in the first set and 4-2 in the second , Djokovic HAD point to turn a single -break lead into a dual .
His failure to do so in the first set Nadal galvanized into momentarily wresting back the initiative from Djokovic HAD Have you started the match looking infinitely sharper than the Spaniard . Djokovic won 11 of the first 14 points Largely Because of His down- the-line backhand , Which He Was beautifully striking at every opportunity -a helpful stat early in the second set Showed That He Was hitting 59 percent of backhands down the line , as Opposed to 36 percent in Earlier matches.
Having taken His foot off His opponent 's neck with a pair of unforced errors 'm his poor game 3-0 , Djokovic played a poor service game himself to be broken back , and Nadal started Producing some more proactive tennis to level the set at 3-3 .
Djokovic 's backhand goal again About did the damage , he hit it flatter , harder , and caught on the hop by Nadal injecting cross-court pace . Double faults from two Nadal , Djokovic 's pressured by returning , Helped the Serb to a break-point at 4-3 , All which he converted with a spectacular defensive lob off Nadal 's serve -and- volley and a ploy Measured ball into the open court. Altho He Was fortunate with a NETCORD at 30-30 When Trying to serve out the set, there Was Nothing lucky gold , Indeed , less than emphatic about His ace down the T All which closed it out.
Nadal never really succeeded today in matching Djokovic 's depth or accuracy , nor Could he find the serve out wide that's served him well this tournament . At 1-1 in the second , three consecutive forehand errors Gave Djokovic three break chances at 0-40 , and altho the world No. 2 returned the favor with two backhand errors , a great return allowed him to convert for a break- of- All which he serves lead never gave up .
Djokovic 's depth of shot Kept running fruitlessly Nadal behind the baseline, while Rafa never succeeded in putting much pressure with His own return . It was a recipe for the kind of dominance we associate with Djokovic 's 2011 season , and altho Nadal Briefly revived in fending off the aforementioned first two championship points the world No. 2 slammed Reviews another ace down the T for a third . He Took It When Nadal Unable to Penetrate His defense with a series of punishing inside-out forehands , the final one fired wide .
A combined total of 41 unforced errors to 28 winners testifies to the uneven quality of the match, the fact That goal Djokovic HAD 19 Of Those winners emphasizes the success of His approach : Accepting the inevitability of Some tired , end -of -season errors , Remaining goal -committed to a relentlessly aggressive strategy . Having lost his No. 1 ranking to Nadal, this title- and the knowledge That A victory in the Davis Cup final Would allow him to better Nadal 's 22 -match winning streak from Earlier in the season -will be Surely ample consolation.
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