He’s the King Again: Nadal Defeats Djokovic for His Sixth Rome Title

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

(May 21, 2012)—Three and a half months ago—after losing his seventh straight heartbreaking final to his new archrival in Australia—it seemed like Rafael Nadal would never beat Novak Djokovic again. Today, after an inspired 7-5, 6-3 victory at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia final in Rome, it feels like Djokovic might never beat Nadal again.

Not only has Nadal’s second consecutive win over Djokovic given the Spaniard his swagger back (and maybe taken it to a new level), it’s also moved him back into the No. 2 ranking slot and thrust him into pole position as the clear favorite to win a record-breaking seventh French Open title early next month.

Welcome to the dog-eat-dog world of ATP tennis, where fortunes can turn with the snap of a racquet string.

Like two prizefighters exchanging body blows, Nadal and Djokovic took turns constructing magnificent points in the early going.

Nadal drew first blood in the fifth game, converting on his fourth break point of the set when Djokovic’s ill-advised drop shot sat up just long enough for Nadal to swoop in and casually swat a crosscourt winner.

But Djokovic, in spite of a mounting error count, leveled things in the very next game when Nadal netted a forehand.

It appeared that Djokovic was going to strike the decisive blow late in the set, but when a crucial missed call by a linesman forced a replay after Djokovic’s forehand had kissed the line at 30-30, 4-5, Nadal had avoided facing set point.

It would prove to be a turning point in the match.

The Spaniard ended up holding, much to Djokovic’s chagrin, and broke the very next game after executing a daring drop shot followed by a reflex volley winner that caused the Serb to demolish a racquet during the changeover.

Nadal, who now owns twice as many Rome titles as anybody else in history, held convincingly to seal the set 7-5.

In the second set Nadal broke to start the set, then weathered six break points in two games from Djokovic to lead 3-1. During these tense times, Nadal seemed to display so many of the things he was lacking during his losing streak against Djokovic: depth and power on the backhand, avoiding the Djokovic shoulder-high strike zone, the use of angles to get Djokovic on the move, and the conviction to use his forehand as a weapon.

In spite of Nadal’s stellar form, Djokovic stayed within a break until the ninth game, when the mental pressure that Nadal had placed him under led to a double fault on match point.

Though the final was a near perfect display for Nadal, who hit twenty less winners than Djokovic and who now owns a 200-2 record when winning the first set of a match on clay, Djokovic managed to challenge him in spite of his 41 errors and poor results on his second serve (he lost 63 percent of those points).

But in the end, the Serb was too inconsistent to stay with a very determined Nadal. His flashes of brilliance were enough to give him hope at times, but not nearly enough to get into past the Tasmanian Devil on the other side of the net.

Djokovic will have to be a lot better if he plans to become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time.

Nadal, meanwhile, will just have to keep doing what he’s been doing.

Immortality awaits the Spaniard at Roland Garros, but for a player as humble and focused as Nadal, you can bet that he’s just thinking about making every shot count.

The rest, as they say, will take care of itself.