Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the finals of the U.S. Open Monday night 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. It was his first U.S. Open title and third Grand Slam win of the year. Nole is 64-2 on the year with 10 titles. He’s 6-0 head-to-head against Nadal. You would figure Rafa would be discouraged by his lack of success against Djokovic lately, but that’s not the case.
“Obviously I’m disappointed but [Novak] is doing unbelievable things,” Nadal said after the match. “What he did this year is probably impossible to repeat.
“I try my best in every moment. These types of matches are very difficult. I tried to play aggressive but he always makes fantastic comebacks. That’s tennis. I tried my best, I’m happy about what I did, I ran to every ball, I fought until the last ball.
“I lost a lot of finals against him this year. I have to accept that I won a lot in the past and the only thing that I can do is try my best every day to keep improving.”
It’s a great attitude for Nadal to have. He played his butt off in the match and tried his best, but like he said, his best was not as good as Djokovic’s. Nole has become the best player in the world and is putting together possibly the best tennis year of all time. He has every shot in the books, and he deflated Nadal with devastating returns, precise drop shots, and fantastic ground strokes.
All Nadal can do is keep trying his best and hope that Novak falls off somewhat, because the way Nole is going, he’ll be awfully difficult to bring down.
