Nadal dominates Djokovic and wins tenth title in Rome

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In the 57e shock between two of the stars of world tennis, their sixth face-to-face in the final of the Masters 1000 in Rome, Rafael Nadal drew on his formidable rage to win to overcome his sharp decline in the second set and beat Novak Djokovic in three sets (7-5, 1-6, 6-3). With this success, the Mallorcan joins the Serbian in the number of titles won in Masters 1000 (36 each).

Two weeks before going on the hunt for a 14e victory on the clay of Roland-Garros, Nadal brilliantly evacuated the doubts born of his early eliminations in the quarter-finals in Monte-Carlo against Andrey Rublev and in Madrid against Alexander Zverev. The Spaniard, despite some difficult matches this week in Rome, and some unusual faults in the final against “Nole”, confirms that he remains the undisputed master on the ocher.

Djokovic exhausted by his day on Saturday

A message sent to the rising generation of Zverev, Tsitsipas or Sinner as to his favorite rivals, Djokovic and Federer. The “Old guy”, as Djokovic, 33, joked on Saturday, have now made the race for the record for Grand Slam victories their priority. But that did not prevent Nadal and Djokovic from giving everything on Sunday, for their reunion seven months after the Roland-Garros final easily won by Nadal (6-0, 6-2, 7-5).

Nadal perfectly mastered the first round, during which he was very angry. The cause: the nailed lines, considered too slippery by the Spaniard. These caused his fall during a passing on Djokovic, while Nadal had experienced the same problem in the quarterfinals against Zverev. “They will end up killing us”, released the Mallorcan to the referee.

After this episode, Nadal experienced an air gap in the second set, allowing Djokovic to break him twice and return to the match. But faced with a Serbian perhaps a little damaged by the nearly five hours spent on the court on Saturday to play two games (end of the quarter, then the semi-final), Nadal took things in hand in the third set, saving two break points against him at 2-2 before breaking the Serbian in stride to fly to his tenth coronation in the twelve finals.

The World with AFP