Thirty-seven consecutive wins on clay for Rafael Nadal, but his streak has come to an end. Not with a bang, but with a smattering of grudging applause from the Madrid crowd seemingly in shock that their man was comprehensively beaten by Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 6-4.
The silence that punctuated the points won by Djokovic throughout the match must have been music to the Serb’s ears, if he spared a thought for the spectators. Down two break points in his opening service game, he saved both before racing up a double break without blinking. Finding far more penetration on the court than Nadal, Djokovic forced his opponent behind the baseline from where his shots fell repeatedly short, exploiting every inch of ground yielded when Nadal ran around the backhand that couldn’t compete with his own. Still, Nadal has the ability to turn a match his way at any moment, to manufacture a moment of magic. A break of serve helped by a reflex pass from the baseline when Djokovic was serving at 5-3, greeted by a huge fist-pump and a roar from the crowd, could have been such a moment. It wasn’t.
It may be fanciful to suggest that Djokovic’s long spell at No. 3 has imbued him with the kind of steel that Nadal himself seemed to gain from serving his time as No. 2, but he is refusing to be anything other than the master of his own destiny right now. Holding to love for 6-5, he returned brilliantly and was rewarded in the shape of two lucky net cords to take the first set. Nadal responded with another absurd moment of magic, a through-the-legs lob winner that will be deservedly YouTube’d from now until forever, and an initial break. That could have been the moment that turned this match around, but once again, Djokovic wouldn’t allow it, immediately breaking back. That set the pattern for the rest of the set: Nadal briefly threatening, popping and sizzling across the court like a firework, before being dampened by Djokovic’s play, as cool and smooth as silk.
Both players seemed to approach the match with the intention of attacking their opponent’s greatest weapon. Nadal played almost exclusively to the Djokovic backhand in the first few games and never succeeded in abandoning that tactic. Djokovic openly displayed his willingness to stay in the kind of grueling, dueling baseline rallies at which Nadal excels, backing himself to have the mental and physical fortitude required, no matter how long the match went. That kind of audacious attempt to sweep your opponent’s legs out from under them looks like genius if it comes off, suicide if it doesn’t. It relies on an almost superhuman quotient of self-belief, and there are very few men who have ever got the better of Nadal in that particular battle.
Djokovic’s reaction when he broke for the match, courtesy once again of backhand duels that left Nadal stranded somewhere behind the baseline, spoke of the same confidence. He was calm as he raised his arms, even subdued, until he ran over to his camp, threw his head back and roared at more or less the only people in the Caja Magica applauding the champion. His unbelievable winning streak continues, now standing at 34 matches and 6 titles. It can’t go on forever, and the heartland of Nadal territory looms in the shape of Rome and Roland Garros, but right now Djokovic is playing like the best in the world.
—Hannah Wilks