Flushing Meadows – Novak Djokovic captured his 14th Grand Slam title on Sunday in New York equaling the great Pete Sampras in the all-time list of major champions. When Sampras won his 14th title in 2002, at the time his record was so astonishing that it seemed impossible for anybody to match it, let alone surpass it. Fast forward to 2018 and you will find Roger Federer with 20 Grand Slam titles, Rafael Nadal with 17 and Novak Djokovic with 14 in a truly Golden Era for men’s tennis.
Djokovic only dropped two sets on his way to his third US Open title: The first to Fucsovics and the second to Sandgren in the early rounds, when the players had to deal with atrocious playing conditions caused by a brutal heat wave. In the following five matches, Novak dominated the field in extraordinary fashion, solidifying his position at the top of the game.
After struggling for more than a year with an elbow injury, Djokovic is now back to his best level. He is the top player that can better adjust his game to all of the different playing surfaces, winning six titles on the Australian hard courts, three on the American hard courts, one on the French red clay and four on the Wimbledon grass.
Djokovic’s game is certainly less elegant than Federer’s or less muscular than Nadal’s, but it is probably more complete and solid. While Novak’s passion and emotions often show his human side, he is also capable of shifting gear to automatic pilot mode that allows him to make zero mistakes even against four or five consecutive forehand bombs by Juan Martin del Potro.
In the first set of yesterday’s final, Nole was tactically perfect. He kept targeting del Potro’s backhand with pinpoint accuracy and as soon as the Argentine dropped the ball short, Novak jumped on top of it and forced his opponent to hit improbable low percentage passing shots from way far back in the court. It was a pattern that Djokovic successfully used at least ten times in the match. The Serb also showed that he wasn’t afraid to engage in cross-court rallies against del Potro’s forehand. The Argentine is usually lethal from the center or left side of the court, but he is less effective when he has to go cross-court. As a result, it was Juan Martin that hit his forehand into the net more often than Novak.
After Djokovic comfortably won the first set, the patterns of play were clear: Del Potro had to hit four or five consecutive monster forehands to break down Djokovic’s defense and win the point. Such incredibly difficult task forced del Potro to over-hit and miss too many shots.
The “Tower of Tandil” showed tremendous pride when he tried to level the match with an unbelievable second set, setting Arthur Ashe Stadium on fire and taking advantage of a few nerves that started to creep in Djokovic’s game. Despite del Potro’s efforts, the Serb managed to close out the 1 hour and 35 minutes set in an enthralling tie-breaker.
Novak went up a break at the beginning of the third set, but del Potro never gave up and managed to break right back. At that point, Djokovic took control of the match and never looked back. 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 was the final score in Djokovic’s favor after 3 hours and 16 minutes of play.
“I played to my limits for almost the entire match, trying to hit winners with both the forehand and backhand, but Nole was always everywhere. He’s a great champion, I am very happy for him,” an extremely sad Juan Martin del Potro said in his post-match press conference.
After capturing two of the four Grand Slams, Novak Djokovic is now the player of the year, despite the fact that he had a shaky start in the early months due to this elbow injury and inactivity. He is now ranked No. 3 behind Nadal and Federer, but if he plays well in Asia and at the ATP Finals, he will have the chance to finish the year as the world No. 1.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global, www.t-lglobal.com )
