In the final of the tournament in Miami, leaving no chance for Rafael Nadal

The tennis super tournament in Miami ended in the final with the participation of the two strongest tennis players in the world, in which Serbian Novak Djokovic defeated Spaniard Rafael Nadal in two sets - 6:3, 6:3.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic
Photo: Reuters

This was the 40th confrontation between two outstanding tennis players (Rafael Nadal still has a slight advantage: he won 22 matches) and one of the strangest among them. Nadal, it seems, even surprised himself that he gave the title to Novak Djokovic so easily, despite the fact that he was in shape and tried. The problem is that the Serb showed an almost perfect game. So remarkable that even the enemy, who tirelessly searched for options and did not give up, could not oppose anything to him. “I tried everything. I gave all my strength to this match, but to no avail,” Nadal lamented.

The key element of this game was, of course, the serve. Djokovic was completely fine with her. He made five aces and did not make a single double fault. And in general, if Djokovic served from the first ball, then, as a rule, Nadal had nothing to catch: in 35 attempts, he caught only five points.

However, it was not only the serve that worked for Novak Djokovic that day. Everything worked, one might say. Djokovic was extremely careful, almost never faked, was careful about break points, and only had one constipation.

Or take this well-known fact: Rafael Nadal is the king of long rallies. So in the finals in Miami, most of them were won not by him, but by the Serbian. Including the most recent rally, in which the opponents delivered three dozen blows. “I played a great match,” Djokovic said, commenting on what happened. And there was no point in arguing with him.

Arnold Kabanov

Novak Djokovic served for defeat