I thought it still looked good for Rafa today, based on the way he started the match. In place of the grinding topspin forehand crosscourt, there was a willingness to stand in and change the direction of the ball. He sent both strokes up the line at will and kept Djokovic guessing on his serve much better than he had last week in Madrid. The Serb’s shots were crisp, but he wasn’t able to set up the pattern that had been so devastating for him—backhand crosscourt, backhand down the line—with the same ease that he had in Spain. It seemed that Nadal had learned his lessons from that match, and that he was going to be all business for this one.
And he was. More than all-business. By the second set, Nadal was playing with an outward, overt passion that I hadn’t seen from him all year, even in his most impressive victories—it reminded me a little of the headlong, scrap-the-rituals, let’s-play-it-fast-and-loose way he had come back from two sets down to beat Ivan Ljubicic in the final of the Madrid indoor event in 2005, when he was 19. Nadal went to the Djokovic forehand, he stretched him on the backhand, he served big on big points, he moved into the court.
And he still lost. 4 and 4. It was a chillier handshake than normal between the two this time, and you can see why from Rafa’s side—his old buddy has surpassed him. It turns out Djokovic can win without his trusty backhand patterns. He can win without pulling the trigger early. He can win without decimating Nadal with his return—though, perhaps even more devastatingly, he won by missing very few returns. He can win even if his forehand begins to spray a bit, and even if he throws in a few tired shots. He can win because, at this moment, he's the superior player.
One point can stand in for all the rest in this match, and for the all others during Djokovic’s current run. Nadal was serving at 3-4, seemingly safe on his serve. He curled a classic crosscourt forehand away from Djokovic, the kind of shot that we’ve seen him hit for outright winners his entire career, the kind of shot he’s built a fortune on. And it was almost a winner again; Djokovic disappeared from the camera’s view trying to track it down. Except that it wasn’t a winner. Except that the ball, which I didn’t expect to see again, came floating back into the screen, and over the net.
Djokovic soon followed, and he soon had control of the point himself, pounding forehands crosscourt. He soon had won the point, and soon after had broken serve. Here was the long-awaited answer to Nadal on clay, the guy who could get to his best and give back something better. Defense to offense, we call it—has anyone done it as well, as spectacularly, as Djokovic is doing it right now?
