PETE ZIEBRON
World #1 and 2013 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters Champion Novak Djokovic Charles Gabrean Photography
World #1 Novak Djokovic added to his collection of Masters 1000 titles, defeating 8-time defending Champion Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-6(1) today at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 1 hour and 52 minutes.
After a 55 minute rain delay prior to the opening ball being struck, Djokovic raced to a 5-0 lead as Nadal only managed to win 12 points in the process. Djokovic squandered 4 set point opportunities in the sixth game as Nadal struggled to get on the board. Had Djokovic converted on any of the set points, he would have joined Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio and Roger Federer as the only men to be able to blank Nadal in a set on clay.
Following Nadal's hold, Djokovic played a poor game and Nadal started to gain momentum as the court started to dry, allowing for Nadal's shots to bounce a bit higher on the firmer surface. However, Nadal had to fend off more set points in his next service game as Djokovic took started to take the ball on the rise earlier and further complicated matters for Nadal. Despite playing the crucial break points against very well, Nadal ultimately double faulted on the 8th set point and Djokovic was one set away from claiming his first Championship in Monte-Carlo.
With conditions continuing to get less heavy as the sun dried the court even more, Novak Djokovic realized that he needed to change tactics a bit and started to employ an out-wide serve in the deuce court. This particular maneuver allowed Djokovic to stretch Nadal wide and take control of the point with blistering forehand winners that Nadal was simply not able to reach.
Suddenly, while serving at 5-5 in the second set, Djokovic's backhand deserted him as he missed 3 routine backhands down the line and donated the all-important game to Nadal, who would now serve for the set. Here was Nadal, the second set on his racquet, with the ability to pull even in the match and concurrently swing all of the momentum to his side and cause Djokovic to rue missed opportunities.
However, Djokovic had other ideas as he played brilliant tennis and broke Nadal at love to take the 2nd set to a tiebreaker. Nadal fell behind 0-2 and would win the next point on his serve. That would be the only point he would record as Djokovic would promptly win the next 5, giving him 11 of the last 12 points of the match, including winning 7 of 8 points on Nadal's serve.
Following the match, both players spoke to the crowd:
Rafael Nadal: "Congratulations, Novak. What you are doing is just amazing. Congratulations for winning my favorite tournament. Thank you to the fans for all the positive messages when I was out, all the energy comes from you."
Novak Djokovic: "Rafa, it was a pleasure again. Thank you for allowing me to win (Monte-Carlo) at least once. I can't ask for a better start for the clay season. I didn't know if I was going to be able to play (this tournament). I made the decision to play and it was the best decision of my life."
With the victory, Novak Djokovic has now won all of the Masters 1000 titles except for Cincinnati, where he has been a Finalist 4 of the last 5 years. With the loss, Rafael Nadal's 8 year and 46 match winning streaks in Monte-Carlo ends, as does his 81 match winning streak in the month of April.