U.S. Open 2011: Novak Djokovic Lifts His Maiden U.S.Open Trophy

Novak Djkovic lifted his maiden U.S Open trophy when he defeated Rafael Nadal in four demanding sets 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. He has cemented his place as the top player of the world and one of the tennis greats.

It was a familiar script in the end. The most anticipated match culminated in the most expected end. The plot was familiar as if a replay from the last Grand Slam event played earlier this year. Novak Djokovic takes the first two sets, Rafael Nadal fights back in the third and then surrenders meekly in the fourth. Djokovic has achieved super stardom now and it will not be long before he will be talked as one of the all time greats. He has shown no signs of fading away for the next season.

Nadal did not play badly except towards the end of the match in the fourth set. He played as well as he was allowed to play by Djokovic. The result was a confirmation of the fact that one dimensional game from the baseline can extend Djokovic but cannot topple him. This defeat of Nadal, in a way, refurbishes the importance of the all shot game of Roger Federer. It was not that Nadal did not try. One could see the deliberate change of pace in his shots, change of depth and change of spin. He tried all this to disturb the rhythm of his opponent, but this is only good enough to induce errors, not to win the points a sure way. Djokovic appeared confident that this was not the opponent who could topple him here or anywhere else, all the rest of the things remaining the same. It appears that Nadal has lost the mental strength against Djokovic. His successes through extra top spin against single backhanded Federer have made him a prisoner of a stereo typed game where he tends to attack the backhand of the opponent and his defensive stock shot is the cross court forehand. Djokovic is too familiar with this game and is able to send winners in vacant space even if the ball is heavy with top spin. Djokovic has one of the best backhands ever and that further negates what was the winning game of Nadal so far. Djokovic is usually in position to hit the ball with a swing that keeps the ball within the court even when travelling as if to land beyond the sidelines. His anticipation of Nadal’s serve is so good that the return places Nadal in a defensive posture from the third shot onwards. Djokovic is a supremely confident player this year, more so against Nadal. He does not have to do anything innovative to get past him. He plays his natural game and Nadal plays his all familiar game and the result is familiar in the end. In a way, team Nadal has many things to learn from the Djokovic machine, but it has failed so far.

Rafael Nadal would have been better off if he had just lost the match, but he appears to have lost a bit of stature too. The tennis world desperately needs a youngster to burst on the scene as Boris Becker did in the mid eighties.