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by Pete Bodo*
If there's any such thing as a safe bet in that cradle of gambling civilization, Monte Carlo, it's Rafael Nadal. Today, he won his eighth straight title on that red clay court perched precipitously on the lip of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean sea. He crushed Novak Djokovic with unexpected ease (as opposed to the expected ease with which Rafa crushes everyone else on that court), 6-3, 6-1. At an hour and 18 minutes, the entire match was shorter than many of the sets these two have played in the past.
This eighth triumph at one event is a record, an unheard of feat that approaches the preposterous given that Monte Carlo is a high-value, Masters 1000 event. Nadal has lost just six sets during this winning streak, which began in 2005. This is also a record 20th Masters title for Nadal, and perhaps most significantly if not most glamorously, his first tournament win of any kind in 10 months—since he won the French Open in early June last year.
The explanation for that baffling final statistic is easily summed up in one word: Djokovic. Before today's final, Djokovic was 7-0 in recent matches against Nadal, all finals, going all the way back to early 2011. But given the relative strengths and weaknesses of the men (chief of which for our purposes is Nadal's facility, record, and degree of comfort on red clay), this match may have been the most heavily freighted with meaning in a very narrow way that has nothing to do with red clay, Nadal's winning streak at Monte Carlo, or his record at Masters events.
This overwhelming win may has enabled Nadal to hit that reset button for which he's been groping for so long now, going all the way back nearly a full year to Madrid, where Djokovic pulled a nasty surprise on the then-No. 1. He pommeled him on clay, a feat that by then many had consigned to the realm of the impossible.
Nadal ran like the devil today, making acrobatic retrieves and converting them into attack opportunities, but then that's what he always does. Nadal remained focused and played within himself, despite the spectre of losing his eighth consecutive match to his nemesis, and the opportunity to bag his eighth consecutive title at Monte Carlo. But then, that's what he always does. And Nadal served extremely well today—and that's something he doesn't always do anymore, especially in some of his matches with Djokovic.
Nadal converted 68 percent of his first serves today, picked his spots so wisely, and mixed up his pace so well, that Djokovic was able to win just 15 percent (four of 26) of the first serves that Nadal put into the box. Djokovic saw just one break point, and one of the few bits of good news for him on the day was that he managed to convert it.
One sequence in the match seemed extremely valuable to Nadal at the moment, but may have even more long-term value as he plots his strategies before future meetings with Djokovic. It occurred in the very first game of the first set, before anyone—including Nadal—had a right to assume that the two breaks Nadal scored to sweep the first set foreshadowed a complete breakdown.
At 15-all, Rafa scored with a service winner to the body. His next serve was to Djokovic's body as well, on the backhand side. It was so effective that Djokovic looked like he'd been shot; he fell back and flailed his arms, managing only to send back a weak return that Nadal powdered with an inside-out forehand approach shot. Another good serve to the forehand went unanswered, earning Nadal the break. If Nadal can serve with comparable expertise in the future, he'll be in every match he plays against the second great rival of his career.
We have to pause at this point in what is an extremely rosy prognosis for Nadal to point out that Djokovic was clearly not his usual, focused self in this match. His partisans will undoubtedly put this down to the fact that he's been distracted by the loss, just a few days ago, of his beloved grandfather Vladimir, with whom Djokovic had a special relationship. But the determination and sangfroid of his rival had a lot to do with the nature of this match.
Djokovic seemed to know that the last person anyone would want to face without having all of his mental and physical weapons in good working order is Nadal on red clay—a fact amplified by their recent history, and the mood into which it put Nadal. The news of Djokovic's troubles this week could only have increased Nadal's sense that, if he was destined to turn the tables, this was the right time and place. This time, he would be the one to play the wolf.
Also, you have to credit Nadal for taking full advantage of this opportunity. The windy conditions and the uneven play of Djokovic were surprising, but Nadal handled them extremely well. He was not about to avert his eyes and find that the momentum had shifted or the terms of engagement had changed when he decided to resume paying attention.
However, one aspect of this match that still might trouble Nadal fans was the extent to which Djokovic was still able to control the inside of the court, while leaving the heroics performed outside the lines to his opponent. Djokovic was unable to dictate on many occasions for any number of reasons, mostly having to do with the rule about keeping the ball within or on the lines. If he plays at a similar level in his future meetings with Nadal, the result is likely to be the same. Yet we also saw many examples of the shot combinations that allow Djokovic to push Nadal around and off the court, which must continue to be an area of concern for Nadal.
Part of this problem is that Nadal has spent a career inviting his rivals to take the game to him, and all of them have been, at least on clay, startlingly unsuccessful. Nadal's game has manifold glories, but an aura of urgency isn't one of them—that's reflected even in his controversial ticks and preferences, like the amount of time he takes between points. And it's precisely this lack of urgency that Djokovic has exploited. Djokovic isn't afraid to step up and take control of the point; in fact, part of his game plan is to do that before the other guy does.
Nadal will take the initiative when given the opportunity, and he'll attack when the point calls for him to do so. But he likes to be asked. This is likely to be the dominant theme in future meetings between these two, but today it didn't need to be.
Today, for the first time in a long time, Djokovic vs. Nadal wasn't drop-everything-and-watch-this stuff. Nadal's resolve and serving proficiency combined with Djokovic's blues ensured that. But hey, these boys have earned the right to chuck in a clunker now and again.