Right so now we get onto the final part of my posts on the ATP world tour finals, which will cover the final between Novak Djokovic, the defending champ and 2010's finalist, Rafael Nadal. Sooooo let's give it a looksee....
So we are no strangers to these two and this being their 39th career meeting (which is more than any two players have played each other in the history of the open era!) they both know each others games very well, so it promised to be a classic. But..... it didn't quite live up to expectations as Rafa was unable to get anything going as he struggled on serve and he went 3-0 down to Nole straight off, who proved to be too sharp on his own serve in comparison. However Rafa wasn't quite down and out as he managed to fight back and level the scores at 3-3 but after this Nole reasserted himself and after an amazing rally, Djokovic broke to go 5-3 up and serve out the set with ease. In the 2nd set Rafa struggled yet again on serve as he handed an early break to Djokovic, who continued his clinical form and nearly breaking Rafa at 4-2 to go 5-2 up, however Rafa valiantly managed to battle on and save the break points. With Rafa trailing at 4-5, Nole served it out with a last ditch effort from the Rafa to try and break back, but it was in vain as Rafa fired a forehand wide, with Djokovic triumphantly holding his arms aloft as he won his 3rd ATP world tour finals championship with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.
Well there was no doubt this final while it had its moments and had some very entertaining rallies it was a bit of a letdown in the end as Rafa struggled badly on his serve and as it is well established that indoor hard court is his worst surface, it certainly showed in the final tonight. Rafa also appeared to whince in pain from his knee again at some points especially as Djokovic pulled him from pillar to post, testing his movement to the limit, which might raise one or two question marks about his knee in the future, however that remains to be seen and might not be the case. And despite his defeat Rafa has overall had an amazing comeback this year having regained the World No.1 spot from Novak and having two out of the four slams and 10 titles overall, he has been at the top of his game and no doubt this has been one of the best seasons of his career, and after such a long absence its great to have him back this year.
As for Nole well its amazing just how well he has bounced back after his US Open final defeat to Rafa, he has not lost a match since and has put together another remarkable winning streak, which now stands at 22 matches. And having won 7 titles this season, Nole has capped off his year in fine style, and its not quite over yet as he still has to play the Davis cup final in Belgrade against the current champions, the Czeck Republic and I'm sure Nole will be more than up to the task as his fierce patriotism will see him do all he can to bring home the Davis cup crown to Serbia once more. So in the meantime Nole deserves much credit for winning the ATP World Tour Finals for a third time and it sees him back on top and as he is no stranger to winning streaks I think its safe to say he will carry this one well on into next year which could see him yet again defend his title in Melbourne, but we can save that for next year.
Anywayyyy so that's it for the ATP tour season, which has been a great season once again and having Rafa back on the scene has been a real highlight alone. Next up I will do a post on the Davis cup and that will probably be it for the year. And with Andy Murray out of the game for now let's hope he will be able to come back in time for the Australian open next year, as he has just started his training again, his involvement in the Barbados exhibition event in two weeks time remains in doubt but even if he doesn't play I'm sure he will back in action soon.
And with that, that's it for noww and I'll say ta ta to the 2013 ATP tour season, which has been a real blast and I'll look forward to 2014 already.
So that's it!
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