Up 2 sets to 1 with a chance to break his opponent in the 4th set, Rafa Nadal went for a tough shot against his rival Novak Djokovic. He got the point, but when it was over he remained bent over at the waist agonizing in both pain and fatigue from the effort he'd just exhibited.
30 seconds later, the towel girl stood waiting for Nadal to take the cloth and clean his face from the sweat he had amassed. Nadal was in the driver seat on the scoreboard, but no one, especially his opponent, could ignore the physical cost that Nadal had obviously paid. The only question that remained from this outward display of despair was how much reserves remained in the immense account of this legendary champion after paying out so much on just one point.
Months earlier, Rafa, and an ailing back provided an opportunity for Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland to make his way to the champions table in the Australian Open. Every point that followed Nadal's bent over moment of weakness seemed to go towards Djokovic......Sort of.
Earlier in this match Djokovic had a fateful decision. He had opened the match with a 6-3 route of Rafa and pushed the second set to a virtual stalemate, and then Rafa came alive. What followed was some of the best tennis my eyes have seen in years. Not from a standpoint of sheer strategy (points tend to last a lot longer on the softer surfaces), but from a standpoint of sheer energy and attack. This felt like hard court shot making complete with the sliding stops that only soft courts provide. These are two of the best in the business and neither is really lacking on any level. They can serve, they can return. They can volley or they can attack you with any shot from any angle that you leave vulnerable. They are two of the most complete players of all time and their championship accomplishments agree.
Rafa might have dominated the scoring, but the competition was fierce. Nadal's 13 championship victories provided a competitive thought process that Djokovic simply didn't possess fully. Djokovic's deficiency of thought seemed to unveil itself when he chose to fight to save a set that he might have been better served to let go of and save the energy for later rounds. By this point of the match, and of the live commentary, this was being compared to the greatest of great boxing matches, because that is exactly what it was.
Djokovic tried valiantly to save that 3rd set and appeared to be physically (he puked on the court) and mentally worn when it did not work. Rafa beat him and battered him and broke him time and time again....but suddenly Rafa, not Djokovic was bent over at the waist.....and he wasn't moving. Djokovic was now down 4-2 and nearly dead, but this gave him the breath of life. Djokovic jumped all over the battered champ and tied the game within an instant at 4-4......Sort of.
In hindsight, Rafa did what Novak should have done for himself earlier in the match. Rafa rested for a few games and did not push his body towards an injury, but allowed himself time to gather his physical composure and to search for what his tired body could and could not do. Somewhere in the process he must have opened a safe deposit box full of sunken treasure. Somewhere in the process, Rafa found a new reserve of whatever it is that makes champions tick.
By the end of the match, Rafa had pulled off the tennis equivalent of the rope-a-dope. Rafa had suckered Djokovic into the same errors that burned him earlier in the match. Thinking he had a wounded animal forced Djokovic into a physical attack without a mental approach. In the end, the wounded animal lured his victim just close enough to kill him. In a match that Djokovic should have been striving to send to a 5th set, just to see if Rafa could endure, he let the fuel of his own excitement burn too fast and explode, finishing with no answer at all to the seemingly recovered champion.
Rafa won his 14th major title (including a record 9 French Open titles) in 4 sets and sit 3 titles behind the legendary Roger Federer for most majors (17) among active players In the process he passed Pete Sampras on the all-time list for major titles. The Serbian Champion Djokovic may only have 6 major titles, but he is currently the most consistent player and could win more titles than anyone if he keeps playing at this level for too much longer. At 27, he has the game and the time to get it done. When it came time to honor Djokovic, the runner up in this match, the crowd would not stop cheering until they pulled a tear from the eye's of this phenomenal player. I'm crying just recalling the moment. When he actually spoke to the crowd, his address, spoken in all French, was great French and great class (his Italian is impressive too).
Watching moments of greatness can be difficult to analyze when your mouth is open in amazement. It takes the benefit of hindsight to understand greatness. Rafa was placing the icing on the cake of an exceptional career that deserves to be topped off properly. To have his career end minus these kinds of victories would compromise his place in the discussion of all time greats. He knows it and he plays accordingly, sacrificing everything for the chance to be considered the best.
After today, Rafa Nadal remains firmly in that discussion.
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