Scattered shoe marks littered the red clay, reminiscent of a chalk outline at a crime scene. Tennis terminator Rafael Nadal laid to rest the ghosts of a 10-month title drought and seven-match losing streak to Novak Djokovic with a rousing 6-3, 6-1 victory over a listless world No. 1 in the Monte Carlo final.
Nadal turned a rematch of the world's Top 2 into a mismatch, winning eight of the last nine games to capture his record-extending eighth consecutive Monte Carlo championship. He did so without surrendering a set, and became the first player to collect 20 Masters Series titles.
Empowered by the belief that no shot was beyond reach, Nadal won most of the extended exchanges and played with more ambition and aggression than he had in suffering straight-sets losses to Djokovic in the 2011 Madrid and Rome finals. The second-seeded Spaniard played by far the cleaner match—he hit 16 winners and 10 errors compared to 11 winners and 25 errors from Djokovic—and dictated play on first serve: Rafa won 85 percent of his first-serve points; Djokovic won just 40 percent of his.
Still coping with the loss of his beloved grandfather, Vladimir, who died hours before his third-round comeback win over Alexandr Dolgopolov, an emotionally-depleted Djokovic struggled to find his range and never looked fully emotionally engaged in the second set.
In his opening service game, Nadal drove an ace down the middle and a slammed a service winner in the same spot to dig out of 15-30 hole. A Nadal backhand winner down the line, followed by a pair of loose Djokovic errors, gave the defending champion the break and a 2-1 lead. Striking his first serve with authority and maintaining the depth of his drives—preventing Djokovic from stepping inside the baseline and commanding rallies—Nadal won eight of next 10 points on his serve, and earned another break point in the seventh game. Djokovic saved it attacking behind a forehand, then had Nadal on a string in the ensuing 18-shot rally, ending it with an exquisite drop shot to dig out a hard-fought hold for 3-4. But that was effectively Djokovic's last stand, as Nadal reeled off six straight games.
The muscular Mallorcan spun an ace to hold for 5-3, before closing the 43-minute opening set when Djokovic sprayed his 14th unforced error off his normally rock-solid two-handed backhand.
The top seed couldn't shake the lingering ennui that clung to him like streaks of red clay. Nadal reeled off 16 of the first 21 points in the second set, squeezing a running, full-stretch one-handed backhand lob inside the baseline, and following it forward to lash a forehand winner for a double-break, 4-0 lead. The pair exchanged love breaks before Nadal finished with a flourish, firing his third ace to seal his 42nd straight Monte Carlo victory and raise his record in clay-court finals to a sparkling 33-4.
When Nadal takes to the Monte Carlo clay, two players typically fall into two categories: The victor and the victim. He created another clay-court casualty today and erupted in revitalized roar to celebrate.