The phenomenon that is Novak Djokovic at the beginning of 2011 is now officially moving into the realms of the truly great. He may currently only be ranked the world’s second-best player but after brutally pushing Rafael Nadal to a second painful defeat in the space of a fortnight and extending his unbeaten run at the beginning of the year to 24 victories, superlatives come thick and fast to describe the ruthless Serb.
Djokovic added the Sony Ericsson Open title to those he has already amassed this year at the Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells with a superhuman effort to beat Nadal 4-6 6-3 7-6 and add another $611,000 (£379,000) to his rapidly growing fortune.
For a while it seemed as though Djokovic was following the same script as that of the Indian Wells final. He initially looked weary and spent in the first set, but impeccably fought his way back into contention in the second.
However, this final was something even more special, with the outcome eventually decided by the lottery of a tie-break. In six previous decisive shootouts between the pair Djokovic had prevailed only once, but this time his nerve proved the stronger, his body more resilient and his game more forceful.
Nadal stuck his sixth double fault of the match to trail 3-2 in the tie-break and from that moment on Djokovic simply charged to victory, hitting a succession of precise but nevertheless fiercely struck winners into the very angle of the base- and sidelines.
Advertisement
In the end, with the match clock reading three hours and 20 minutes, a Djokovic forehand flew crosscourt at such an acute angle that even a supreme athlete such as Nadal could come up with no answer and now the 23-year-old from Belgrade joins the esteemed company of Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras as the only players to have completed the Australia Open/Indian Wells/Miami Masters treble at the opening of the calendar.
Initially, it seemed as though fatigue would eventually prove to be Djokovic’s downfall after a winning run that stretched back to the Davis Cup final, contested at the beginning of last December. Certainly the conditions seemed to favour Nadal, the court being slower than Indian Wells and a more humid atmosphere meaning less pace could be generated on the ball.
In addition, the notorious gusts of wind that whip up off the azure waters of Biscayne Bay seemed to trouble the Serb more than the Spaniard. Nadal almost seemed to incorporate the wind into his tactics while Djokovic found them a hindrance.
Consequently Nadal snatched the early upper hand with two successive breaks of serve as Djokovic produced what seemed to be more errors than he had done throughout the entire tournament. One backhand pass drilled down the line by the world No 1 was brimful of intent to exact revenge for what happened at Indian Wells two weeks previously and more than once Djokovic glanced at his coach Marian Vajda with an expression that said he had no more answers.
It was the first time Djokovic’s serve had been broken in the tournament after five matches of supreme confidence and dominance. Few men could currently puncture his mental armour, but such is the reverence in which he holds Nadal that the left-hander across the net seemed set to snatch back the spotlight.
Advertisement
But no Spaniard has ever won this title, in a city so predominantly Hispanic in language and culture. Nadal had been beaten in two previous finals and his French Open-winning compatriots Carlos Moya and Sergi Bruguera had gone equally close. The first set may have suggested the trend was about to end, but Djokovic is a man who can never be discounted.
Nadal’s focus seemed to waiver just a little at the conclusion of the first set and it was just the impetus the Serb required. Suddenly all the weariness seemed to drain from his legs and he won six of seven games, completely shifting the momentum of the match with a brand of tennis that certainly backed up the theory that on current form and ability, he is the world’s leading player.
One rally in particular was nothing short of sublime. Djokovic showed great athleticism to make yards across the baseline and strike a forehand, but a ruthless Nadal replied with the most testing of backhanded drop shots. Few players in the world would have even attempted to get to the ball but Djokovic somehow managed it and while taking a painful tumble on the sun-baked cement, he directed an unbelievable winner crosscourt.
Whereas previously it was Nadal who appeared to harness the wind to his advantage, now it was Djokovic. Twice he hoisted the ball high for lobs that most would have called a lottery on such a blustery day. On both occasions the ball fell to perfection inside the baseline but far beyond the powers of the Spaniard to retrieve.
Nadal’s morale was being tested to the limit and a Djokovic ace rounded off the second set with the match clock seven minutes shy of the two-hour mark. Once again a third set would be needed to separate this pair and in the end it was Djokovic who prevailed.