Novak Djokovic was phenomenal tonight in defeating Juan Martin del Potro, 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
One statistic, shown after the second set, encapsulates the gulf between winner and loser. Del Potro had won 44 of the 77 rallies which were three shots or less, but just 18 to Djokovic’s 45 where the rally went longer than four shots. To put it another way, del Potro ended the match with 25 winners to Djokovic’s 45. That wasn’t because del Potro wasn’t cracking the ball with all his fearsome pace and accuracy. It was because shots which would be winners against any other player weren’t just coming back; they were coming back deep, time and time again. The excellence of Djokovic’s movement and defense is easy to take for granted until you see it effortlessly overwhelming the biggest forehand in the men’s game.
Not that those aspects of Djokovic’s game were the only things firing tonight. Breaking early in the first, he was hitting and returning so well that del Potro’s serve was effectively neutralized, breaking again to seal an almost perfect set. It was clear that del Potro was going to have to dig deep to even keep the match competitive, and that’s what he did. Breaking to lead 1-0 after a slapped forehand return winner and a double fault from Djokovic, the Argentine started to take more risks than his conservative style would usually allow, putting his serve into Djokovic’s body and into the corners, upping the intensity on his forehand and refusing to be pushed back behind the baseline.
It added up to a scintillating, 84-minute second set in which Djokovic pressed del Potro hard in every service game. Del Potro hung on until he opened his 5-4 service game with a terrible error; constructing the point beautifully, he raced in for a high volley and put it well long. Djokovic broke back, and at 5-6, they played a 17-minute service game which saw del Potro actually hammering himself in the head with his racquet and saving three break points just to get to a tiebreak.
Del Potro scored an early break there, too, but couldn’t hold it, as Djokovic earned set point with a rally that saw unbelievable forehands, better defense, drop shots, and a chased-down lob before the seventh seed’s lob eventually went long, leaving him doubled over the net and gasping for breath. Djokovic put his umpteenth clean backhand winner past a stranded del Potro to take the tiebreak 7-3, and had a seemingly unassailable two-set lead.
It’s understandable that del Potro was so befuddled that he had to ask the chair umpire which side he was serving from to start the third set (that would be the losing one, Delpo) and was immediately broken. He had his chances in the final set, earning two break points, but couldn’t quite get it done as Djokovic continued to expose the weaknesses in del Potro’s game while playing as if he had none in his own. He closed out the match with two of the heavenly backhands with which he’d won it.
Here’s the thing. To my eyes, del Potro played as well tonight as he did to win the title in 2009. But in the year and a half that it’s taken him to get back to that level after a year-long enforced absence, the game has moved on, largely because Djokovic’s remarkable 2011 season has taken it to new heights. The completeness as a player, the mastery of every aspect of the game he demonstrated tonight showed the strides he’s taken, and even del Potro’s long legs couldn’t keep pace with him. Can anyone left in New York?
