RAFAL
NADAL secured his 13th Grand Slam with victory over Novak Djokovic in
the US Open final at Flushing Meadows on Monday, saying it is the “most
emotional” season of his career.
Nadal won the French Open in June with a victory over David Ferrer, after a lengthy absence from the tour due to a knee injury.
And while the Spaniard was worried
whether he could ever return to the pinnacle of the sport, seven months
after his comeback in February he has added two more majors to his haul,
along with eight ATP Tour titles and just three defeats.
Djokovic remains world number one, but Nadal has staked his claim as the best player on the globe on current form.
The 27-year-old proved that in a US Open
final that reached heights to match any of their epic encounters in the
second and third sets before Djokovic faded to go down 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-1
after three hours and 21 minutes.
After shaking hands with his vanquished
opponent, Nadal lay flat on his front sobbing into the court before
celebrating with his team.
“For a few reasons, this season is
probably the most emotional one in my career,” Nadal said. “I felt that I
did everything right to have my chance here.
“You play a match against one of the
best players in history like Novak on probably his favourite surface, so
I knew I had to be almost perfect to win.
“It means a lot for me have this trophy
with me today. It’s just amazing. I’m very, very happy, and I just say
thank you very much to everybody who helped me to make that possible.
It’s a really special moment for me.”
That Nadal could win the French Open for
an eighth time after his injury problems was no surprise but it is his
dominance on hard courts that has been the real revelation.
The Spaniard has always found the
surface hardest on his body but his victory over Djokovic made it 22
matches unbeaten this season on hard and four titles.
Nadal now has 13 grand slam titles – one
adrift of Pete Sampras and four behind Roger Federer – after winning
for a second time in New York.
“I never thought something like this could happen,” Nadal added. “I was so excited to be back on tour trying to be competitive.
“I never thought about competing for all
that I competed for this year. All the Masters 1000s, ...
