Djokovic Beats Nadal in the ATP Rome Masters to Remain 2011’s Golden Boy

Djokovic emerged victorious yet again in a 6-4 6-4 straight sets victory over Nadal in the ATP Masters final in Rome. The Serb battled through his weariness to maintain his sensational run of form into the clay court season, traditionally very much Nadal’s territory. 

The match highlighted how vast the improvement between the Djokovic of previous years and the Djokovic of today has been. A crucial moment in the first set was Djokovic breaking to go 5-3 up, but then Nadal broke back and the Djokovic of old might have succumbed to the pressure from the clay court master and surrendered the first set. However, he has improved his mental fortitude and it enabled him to break once again to clinch a very important first set. Djokovic’s past has been plagued with a series of minor injuries, illnesses and other problems, such as back in 2006 when he retired hurt while 2 sets down against Nadal at Roland Garros. These problems appear a thing of the past as shown by his impressive victory over Andy Murray, summoning up huge reserves of strength to push past his fatigue to clinch the win in a final set tie-break. Just 24 hours later after that epic semi-final, he appeared to show no signs of fatigue and dictated the play for much of the final.

Since 2007, the Serb’s ranking has hovered between two and four, yet this victory puts him one step closer to the almost inevitable number one ranking spot. Already he has become only the second player ever to qualify for the World Tour Finals before Roland Garros. What makes his rise to the top even more impressive is that it has come in the age of Federer and Nadal. Although the Fed may not be the giant he once was on the court, Nadal is still very much in his prime. With two successive victories over Nadal on the clay, Djokovic has shown his world class credentials, eradicating any lingering doubts over his potential.  He has developed both mental and physical side of his game and is being much more aggressive and domineering on the court. Although Djokovic appears to be dominating all forms of the game, more tests will come in the grass court and hard court seasons when Federer will surely bounce back from his ignominious defeats in the early season. Murray too looks like he has improved his game vastly since his dreadful early season and may surprise his critics in putting up serious fights in the later Majors. 

The Djokovic we are seeing in 2011 has not just appeared out of thin air, and he has improved his game immeasurably since even last year. His serve is holding up a lot better, and he has perfected his backhand shots, which he used to devastating effect against Murray and Nadal. The one attribute that sets him apart from Nadal, Murray and the likes is his ability to read the situation, often knowing when to up the ante and when he has earned himself a respite. His phenomenal ability to cover ground on the court does half of the work for him, with opponents left stunned at his ability to chase down seemingly un-retrievable balls.