Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s rivalry reached new heights in 2011, with the US Open one of many finals they contested.
After a couple of years of failing to make a Grand Slam final after his 2008 breakthrough at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic finally returned to a championship match at the 2010 US Open.
While he failed to win the title then, that set the stage for a record-setting follow-up campaign.
The Serb won the Australian Open, for his second major crown, then went on a 41-match winning streak. He would add another Grand Slam at Wimbledon, and at the last year’s final major, the US Open, the world No. 1 entered the tournament as the player to beat. He advanced to the final, which included an epic five-set win over Roger Federer, where he overcame four match points.
Waiting for him in the championship match would be the player who’d been chasing him in finals all season, Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard had lost five finals over the year to Djokovic, including their most recent one at Wimbledon, but entered this match playing some of his best tennis of the year as he only dropped one set prior to the final.
In a rematch of last year’s final, reigning champion Nadal got off to a fast start as he broke Djokovic to take a 2-0 lead. That fast start, though, wouldn’t last as Djokovic rattled off the next six games to take the first set.
In the second, Djokovic kept his momentum going, gaining an early break, before Nadal rallied to tie it up at 4-4. The world No. 1, however, broke back and served it out to take a 6-4.
Nadal, a 10-time Grand Slam champion, wasn’t quite done yet.
The third set went the distance as Nadal managed to break back when Djokovic served for the title at 6-5. In the tiebreak, Nadal jumped to a 5-1 lead, eventually clinching it 7-3.
As he had throughout the season, Djokovic recovered and in the fourth, built a quick 3-0 lead. Up 5-1, Djokovic blasted a forehand winner on match point to give him his third Slam and 10th title of the year.
5
In Djokovic’s 10th triumph of the season, this was the fifth one in he which a lost a set in the final.
10
Djokovic’s wins over Federer and Nadal in the tournament ran his record against the two to 10-1 for the year.
'04
The last time Nadal won a title in a season without at least one of them coming on a hard court was 2004, the year he captured his first title.
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