Rafa Nadal kept the one major title missing from his glittering CV firmly in his sights on Wednesday as he took brutal advantage of Novak Djokovic’s eye problems to notch his second win at the ATP World Tour Finals.
The world No. 1 and No. 3 were locked in a ferocious baseline battle for more than hour before Djokovic lost his focus, literally, and Nadal raced away to win 7-5, 6-2 in front of a full house at the 17,500-capacity O2 Arena.
“You know, playing with one eye is not enough, especially if you have Nadal across the net,” a dejected Djokovic, who needed treatment for what he described as “irritation” in his right eye, told reporters.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“All I could do was basically try and hit the ball as hard as I can. If it goes in, it goes in,” he said.
After being matched by Djokovic for most of a 76-minute first set Nadal seized on his opponent’s misfortune to pocket the second in little more than half an hour.
The Spaniard tops Group A with two wins from two matches, although the complexities of the round robin format used at the Tour’s season-ending showpiece mean he is still not assured of his semi-final spot.
PHOTO: REUTERS
All four players in the group can still progress, including Tomas Berdych, who notched his first win by beating American Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-3.
Berdych and Djokovic both have a win each going into today’s final group matches when Nadal faces Berdych and the winless Roddick takes on Djokovic, who said he will have his eye checked out by a doctor.
“I have big chances to qualify still,” Djokovic said. “It’s just that these things make me very angry. From 5-5 I could not play. I could not see a ball, especially the return.”
Photo: REUTERS
It was a shame for the crowd who had been royally entertained by the two players.
After expressing his sympathy for Djokovic, however, Nadal stressed that he is taking nothing for granted.
“I’ve won two important matches of the round robin but I am not qualified,” he said. “I can meet with the island of Mallorca in the semi-finals or I could meet with Roger Federer or with everyone in the other group.”
“We’ll see what going to happen after tomorrow. It’s not going to be easy against Tomas,” he said.
Roddick was distracted by advertising lights behind the baseline that flashed and flickered, even while play was going on.
After being broken for the second time in the match, Roddick snapped. Or, actually, the rim of his racket snapped when he smashed it against his foot.
“I was angry with myself and there wasn’t anybody else to talk to at that moment,” Roddick said after his defeat.
Roddick had been playing well through the first set, but shortly after wasting a pair of set points on Berdych’s serve while leading 5-4, he was broken and eventually dropped the set.
In the second, Roddick held his first two service games relatively easily. Then, at 2-2, the neon lights on the front of the boxes where the line judges stand started to change, flickering red sometimes and then back to the light blue that they’re supposed to be.
With Roddick growing increasingly frustrated, Berdych took a 15-30 lead with a forehand winner. Roddick then dumped a forehand wide on the next shot and lost his replay challenge, giving Berdych two break points.
After saving one when Berdych sent a forehand return long, Roddick tried an overhead smash from the baseline but the ball landed out, giving Berdych a 3-2 lead.
That’s when he let it all out.
First, he whacked a ball high into the rafters. Then, when he was walking back to his chair for the changeover, he smashed his racket against his foot and drew a code violation from the chair umpire.
“The neons in the back weren’t quite to the settled position. They were still advertising fun stuff,” Roddick said.
“When you’re trying to track a ball, it’s kind of neon lights and stuff. Then Tomas noticed it. A couple of them just went out before we played a point,” he said.
The match finished with the lights off.
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