Translated material
Young final
Rafael Nadal won the Masters on American hard court
In the final of the first men's Masters tournament this season, held on the courts of Indian Wells, the second racket of the world, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, beat Serbian Novak Djokovic, who had never previously played in decisive matches at this level - 6: 2, 7 :5.This is Nadal's 18th title, and if he won his first nine victories exclusively on clay, then starting from the second half of the 2005 season, his successes on faster hard courts outweighed his achievements on clay courts. Even before last year’s Wimbledon, Rafael said: “In order to compete with Roger Federer in the fight for a place at the top of the ATP rankings, I need to become an all-rounder and win not only on clay.” The 20-year-old Spaniard appears to be making good progress in his pursuit of the Swiss, although the gap between them in the individual classification is still wide and currently stands at 2,960 points.
The tide should change in Nadal's favor when the European clay season begins in April. After all, the Spaniard's streak of 62 consecutive victories on slow courts continues. It’s interesting that the last person to defeat Rafael in his element was our Igor Andreev, who did it in 2005 at a competition in Valencia.
The final in Indian Wells was the youngest in the history of this tournament in terms of the total age of the two opponents. Nadal will turn 21 only at the beginning of June, Djokovic will cease to be a teenager on May 22. A native of Belgrade living in Monte Carlo, thanks to his excellent performance on the North American hard court, he entered the top ten of the world rankings for the first time. He started playing tennis at the age of four, and already at 16 he received the status of a professional athlete. Djokovic studied the intricacies of the game for two years at the Niki Pilic Academy in Munich, after which he returned to Belgrade, and when he began to earn decent money, he moved to the Principality of Monaco. Last season, Novak won titles in two tournaments, and began 2007 with success in Adelaide, Australia. His highest achievement at the Grand Slam was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2006 French Open, where he lost to the same Nadal.
“I was noticeably nervous at the start of the final,” Djokovic said after the Indian Wells tournament. - Still, there were a lot of spectators in the stands, and besides, I have little experience performing in such conditions. I tried to focus solely on the game, but it didn’t work out right away. My actions on the court became more meaningful closer to the second game. And in the opening of the meeting, Nadal, having made two breaks, somehow immediately unsettled me.” The winner was not overly modest at the post-match press conference: “I played very well and almost without mistakes. I conducted this fight in an aggressive manner, constantly keeping the pace, the blows were both powerful and accurate. I'm in really good physical condition right now and it's nice to win the title on clay. It seems they’ve stopped calling me a pure primer.”
Before Indian Wells, Nadal had failed to take the top prize in the 12 tournaments he entered. This is his longest streak without a title since the Spaniard won his first ATP event in 2004. Djokovic missed the opportunity to repeat the achievement of the legendary German Boris Becker, who distinguished himself on these courts exactly 20 years ago as a teenager. At the award ceremony, it was Becker who presented the Serbian with a prize for participating in the final.
Among the girls, in addition to the previously announced change at the top of the ranking (Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne became the first racket of the world, Maria Sharapova dropped to second position), our Svetlana Kuznetsova rose to third place, pushing aside Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo. All three mentioned tennis players from Western Europe did not arrive in Indian Wells, but are going to take part in the competition starting in a couple of days in Miami, where $3.45 million will be up for grabs - the maximum prize fund for first-category tournaments. Women here have finally had equal rights with men, and representatives of the fairer sex will receive the same fees for reaching one stage or another. A win here is valued at $533,750; a place in the main draw, even if you lose in the starting round, guarantees $5,560.
So far, only the qualifying competition grids are known. Evgeny Korolev, Pavel Chekhov, Teimuraz Gabashvili, Galina Voskoboeva, Ekaterina Bychkova, Yaroslava Shvedova, Alla Kudryavtseva, Anastasia Rodionova, Anastasia Pivovarova and Vera Dushevina will make their way into the main tournament through two rounds of selection. So far, the organizers have not yet received official refusals from the strongest players in the world who have received the right to compete in Miami. Of the most famous tennis players, the injured Elena Dementieva and Croatian Mario Ancic are not in the preliminary application.