London: Novak Djokovic capped off a phenomenal autumn by defending his ATP World Tour Finals title with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over Rafael Nadal in a duel between the two dominant players of the season on Monday night.
There's no doubt Djokovic is the man to beat on indoor hard courts. And just for the record, his 22 consecutive wins to finish 2013 matched top-ranked Nadal's best stretch of the year. Djokovic's winning run started after a US Open final defeat to Nadal, and during a span when the Spaniard replaced him atop the rankings.
“The most positive thing that I can take from those two is the fact that I managed to regroup after a few big losses against Nadal, especially in Roland Garros, U.S. Open final and Wimbledon final,“ said Djokovic, who became the seventh player to win the elite seasonending tournament at least three times.
His victory in London denied Nadal the only big trophy missing from his glittering CV. Having produced one of the most memorable comebacks in tennis, Nadal lost in a deciding match for the second time at the tour finals and missed the chance to join Andre Agassi as the only players to have won all four Grand Slams, Olympic gold, the Davis Cup and the year-end tournament.
“It’s not going to change my career, winning or losing today,” Nadal said. “I am not very disappointed. I know that I was not the favorite for the match, even if I tried with the right attitude, in my opinion, fighting for every moment, trying to be positive in every moment, even if the match was not going the way that I would like.”
Monday’s defeat was a strong warning to Nadal, who overhauled Djokovic for the No. 1 ranking last month, that his Serbian rival will be ready to extend his form into next year’s Australian Open, where he is the threetime defending champion.
Djokovic has now beaten Nadal 10 times in 19 finals and is unbeaten since losing at the U.S. Open in September. Djokovic returned superbly from the start to move his Spanish rival around the court and prevent him from dictating the points.
Nadal, playing on his less favourite surface, hit only nine winners and was broken three times. “If I can say about one thing that makes the difference in today’s match was the serve — I didn’t serve well, he served well,” Nadal said.
