Pic likely taken before the hostilities started.
It was in many ways a spellbinding night for Novak Djokovic. It was one of those evenings he simply couldn’t miss. The always level-headed Nadal described his performance well in the press conference:
“The match is easy to analyse,” said Nadal. “I played against a player who did everything perfectly. I don’t know anybody who’s ever played tennis like this. Since I know this sport I’ve never seen somebody playing at this level. So I just congratulate him and that’s it.”
The score 6-1 6-2 speaks well for what transpired on the court. Novak was in the zone and, no matter how painful this might seem to him and his fans, when Djokovic plays like that, Nadal doesn’t really have weapons in his game to hurt him. To be able to impose himself more on Djokovic’s game he would need a bigger serve or flatter, more aggressive groundstrokes. The massive top spin that Nadal puts on his shots doesn’t seem to bother Djokovic one iota.
Djokovic’s victory edges him to lead their rivalry 24-23 and that doesn’t look likely to change. Nadal said that the season his long and he will wait for his time to pounce. Maybe it will happen during the clay court season? Maybe it wouldn’t happen at all. I can’t see Nadal beating Djokovic on a hard court, just can’t see it.
