The message from Novak Djokovic could not have been more emphatic after the Serb retained his title at the ATP World Tour Finals with a crushing victory over Rafael Nadal on Monday.
Nadal deservedly ends the year on top of the rankings after an incredible comeback from injury, but Djokovic delivered an ominous show of force at a packed O2 Arena in London, running the man who replaced him as the world No. 1 player ragged.
It was a 1 hour, 36 minute masterclass in power and precision from Djokovic and if anything the 6-3, 6-4 scoreline flattered Nadal, who spent most of the match dancing to his opponent’s tune.
Photo: AFP
After a week of sellout crowds at the spectacular Thames-side arena it was fitting that the world’s top two players should meet for the 39th time in the most prolific rivalry in the modern era, and one that is eclipsing the great battles between Nadal and Roger Federer.
Both players had won all their round-robin matches before cruising through Sunday’s semi-finals.
Nadal was bidding to land the title for the first time to cap a year that saw him roar back to the top of the rankings with 10 titles, including the US Open and French Open, while Djokovic was finishing the season like a runaway steamroller since losing to Nadal in the Flushing Meadows final in New York.
Apart from a few jaw-dropping rallies, though, the fireworks were confined to those that lit up the court as Djokovic got his hands on the trophy named in honor of late ATP executive chairman Brad Drewett, who died this year.
“Look, the year-end No. 1 is deservedly in Nadal’s hands because he had two Grand Slam wins, the best season out of all players, the most titles, but next to the run that I had in 2011, this is definitely the second best I’ve had,” said Djokovic, who in capturing the title for a third time stretched his winning run to 22. “The most positive thing that I can take from this two and a half months is the fact that I managed to regroup after a few big losses, after Nadal, especially Roland Garros, US Open final and Wimbledon final.”
“I’ve worked harder and played better, become an even more skilful player. This is definitely the best possible way that I can finish the season,” added Djokovic, who will lead Serbia against the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup final at the weekend.
Nadal tried to put a brave face on his defeat.
“I think at the beginning he was playing much better than me, the first three games no doubt,” the Spaniard said. “After that I didn’t see the difference.”
The statistics offered a clue, though.
Djokovic hit 19 winners to Nadal’s nine, committed less errors and served much better than his opponent, who threw in two costly double faults at 3-4 in the opening set.
Djokovic dominated virtually from start to finish and despite the 17,000 crowd willing Nadal to drag the match into a decider, he was powerless to fight off an opponent who peppered the lines with relentless accuracy.
The Serb, who ceded top spot to Nadal in October, began the final as if he had a point to prove and playing immaculate tennis he raced to a 3-0 lead as an edgy Nadal struggled for timing.
Nadal finally began to get on the front foot and won the next three games as Djokovic’s level dipped briefly.
Djokovic edged back in front again and broke serve with one of the points of the tournament, a spellbinding rally in which he sprinted across the baseline to produce an inch-perfect lob, danced into the net and won a quickfire exchange of volleys, before raising his fists to the crowd.
Having lost the first set, Nadal could ill afford handing Djokovic a lead in the second, but his forehand continued to misfire and the Serb took the invitation to seize complete control with another break of serve.
Djokovic looked to be running away with it and moved in for the kill, but Nadal’s pride dug him out of a deep hole.
The Spaniard saved match point at 5-3 and again when he chased down a drop-shot at 5-4, but Djokovic merely sucked in some air, stared down the other end and blasted down his sixth ace, before clinching victory when Nadal sent a forehand wide.
While there was disappointment for Nadal, compatriots Fernando Verdasco and David Marrero gave Spain a lift with victory over Bob and Mike Bryan in the doubles final.
Verdasco and Marrero, the sixth seeds, upset the favorites 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 10-7 as the title went to a Spanish pair for the second successive year following the triumph of Marcel Granollers and Mark Lopez 12 months ago.
The Californian Bryan twins were looking to win their 12th title of the year and surpass the 11 they won in 2007 and 2010, but were edged out in a match tiebreak.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier