Novak Djokovic
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal was stunned as Novak Djokovic beat him with 6-4, 6-4 to win the Rome Masters on Sunday. Novak then took his unbeaten start of the year to 37 matches. Maria Sharapova won the women’s title beating Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4.
Rome was the fourth time in a row the Novak has beaten Nadal in a Masters final this season and the second successive week he has done so on clay after winning in Madrid. The World No. 2, who lost all of his eight previous matches on clay against the Spaniard before his Madrid triumph, is also homing in on Nadal’s top ranking.
But Nadal said he is focusing on improving his own game.
Nadal is quoted saying “I’m there all the time, I’ve played in six straight finals, I’ve lost four (Miami, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome; wins at Monte Carlo and Barcelona) but there is one player playing better than the rest, he is doing unbelievably. My goal is to be there next time. In the last few months he’s been on a different level to the rest of the players. I have important personal satisfaction in how I’m doing this year. This week was very positive for me, I finished the week playing much better than at the beginning.”
Nadal said he is not worried that his aura of invincibility might have been damaged, having lost twice in a row to Djokovic on clay.
But instead he feels, “For me, it doesn’t matter if people think I am more beatable than before, the important thing is to be confident and happy with what I’m doing and to do everything I can,”
However, Nadal noticed that it’s not easy task to find a weakness in Djokovic’s game.
He further complimented him saying, “He’s a complete player, he can do everything. He defends very well, better than he did before. He can attack very well, like he did before. He’s very, very good, that’s the problem. He has all the shots. “
But as a quick self defense he also added this, “He beat me in the last four Masters but I beat him in lots of important things in the past – the semifinals of the Olympics, the final of the US Open, two semifinals at Roland Garros.”
“We will see what happens in the future” was all Nadal was left at the end.
Tags: Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Rome Masters, Samantha Stosur
