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By Mike Dickson
Simply the best: Rafael Nadal celebrates after powering his way to a record-breaking victory over Novak Djokovic in the US Open final.On a boisterous night in the Big Apple a respectful and humble soul from the Mediterranean island of Mallorca confirmed his status as one of tennis's all-time great players.
Rafael Nadal finally stormed the most intimidating citadel of the sport where it is played on hard courts when he defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 in a rain-delayed U.S Open final that spanned 213 minutes and nearly six hours in total.
At 24 he becomes the seventh and the youngest man since tennis went open 42 years ago to claim all four Majors in a career. He did it by displaying his almost inhuman intensity to fight off the brave challenge of Serbia's world number three.
The Australian Open is now the only Grand Slam not in the Nadal family cupboard, and among the milestones passed is him becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S Open in sequence.
From the outset he signalled that he was prepared to stay out all night if necessary to soak up Djokovic's sometimes extravagant attacks from the baseline. When rain interrupted them at 6-4 4-4 it looked like that might be necessary, and only when he drew ahead in the fourth set did it become clear that history was in the making.
Nadal is the crowning glory on Spain's wonderful year of sporting success. The soccer World Cup, the Tour de France and now an almost unparallelled year of triumph in another sport practised all over the globe.
The list of those who have won all four Grand Slams is headed by Fred Perry, who was subsequently joined by Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Laver, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. The latter two managed it, as Nadal has, at a time when the game has diversified away from just grass and clay onto painted cement.
Nadal adding his name to them would have appeared extraordinary less than nine months ago when he wrenched his knee playing Andy Murray in Australia and you feared the worst. State-of-the-art treatment and adjustments to his schedule have helped bring about the astonishing turnaround, but underpinning it all is his remorseless desire for self-improvement.
Now he will return to Melbourne in the New Year with the chance of doing the whole Grand Slam in the moral sense, even if it is not in the actual calendar year.
Down and out: Djokovic comes to terms with the fact that there is no way past the SpaniardHe had never beaten Djokovic on hard courts, and also did not receive the expected helping hand of facing the Serb within 24 hours of his epic semi-final defeat of Roger Federer.
This could, though, have worked both ways, with the extra gap caused by Sunday's rain allowing the Federer victory - and the accompanying aches and strains - time to sink in. The emotional momentum of that win could have dissipated somewhat.
The opening games were played out before swathes of empty seats as New Yorkers struggled to make it out to Flushing Meadows at the newly allotted time, although by the end of the first set most were present and correct.
At first Djokovic appeared stiff, and repeatedly flexed himself as he was broken in the very first game, the very first point of which was a minor classic that took 21 strokes.
It was soon becoming apparent that Nadal would be more than happy to turn this into a physical battle by running his opponent into the ground and concentrating on outlasting him in the rallies. Although he quickly conceded the break back he gained the restored his advantage by gaining the decisive break in a long fifth game.
When you lose the first set to Nadal the odds are stacked against you, to put it mildly. Of the 108 times Nadal has won the opener in a Grand Slam he has gone on to win the match 107 times.
Yet there was to be no surrender, and Djokovic responded early in the second set by stringing together eleven straight points to go 4-1 up. This met with the vocal approval of his supporters' box where his father was again wearing that infinitely cheesey T-shirt bearing his son's image upon it.
He could not continue the level of low-margin attacking tennis that had seen him beat Federer and Nadal hauled him back before a one hour 48 minute break that had the New Yorkers scrambling for shelter, cursing the US authorities reluctance to shell out an estimated $150 million on a Wimbledon-style roof.
Pain in the rain: A torrential downpour earlier in the day once again delayed play and forced the players off court (below)
After the super soppers had done their best Djokovic again came out firing and at 6-5, forcing a first set point, he drilled the ball onto Nadal's baseline and the Spaniard was unable to control the half-volley.Keen to avoid a war of attrition, Djokovic continued tee-ing off in the third but his serve, which has let him down this year at times, was put under relentless pressure.
Nadal always looked like breaking but the scale of the occasion was betrayed in his failure to take his opportunities, five break points being spurned that would have put him 5-2 up.
Djokovic competed like a mad dog and nearly sneaked back in as Nadal served for it at 5-4, but fittingly it was the Spanish serve, such an improved part of his armoury, that got him safely to 2-1 up. By the end of the third set the world number one had taken only four of 21 break points, while his opponent was running at 3-3.
Still the break points kept coming and the breakthrough which smashed the increasingly desperate Djokovic's resistance came at 2-1 up in the fourth when the Serb hit the ball long off the netcord.
It was never a cakewalk and Nadal was forced into continuous chases, one of which set up match point with forehand down the line. The kill was quick, with a final forehand from his opponent angling into the tramlines.
The victor collapsed to the floor in a heap of black and Djokovic came round the net to acknowledge him with an embrace. He had been beaten by an extraordinary athlete, currently the world's best tennis player by a very considerable margin.
source :dailymail
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