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6/16/08 12:24 AM | David Cox
No Spanish player had won a grass court title since 1972, that's 36 years since the era of Andreas Gimeno and Manuel Santana. However Rafael Nadal is no ordinary Spanish player and he became the 3rd man this century after Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick to lift the Queens trophy
It was a quite simply a brilliant final, in entertainment value definately one of the best played here. That was also down to the efforts of Novak Djokovic who looked devastated at the end and there were many times when Nadal's quest to enter the record books looked in danger before he came through 7-6(6), 7-5
There is a growing trend of thought that the key to unlocking Nadal's baseline fortress is a hard, deep ball to the forehand opening the court up to attack to his backhand. With the best down the line backhand in the world, Djokovic is perfectly equipped for the task and he came out firing, employing this very strategy and a shell-shocked Nadal found himself 3-0 down.
Djokovic had a point to go 4-0 up but from there things started to unravel, Nadal held on for 1-3 and then Djokovic conceded the break with a poor game littered with errors. Both men upped their level on serve from then on, especially Nadal who began bringing that vicious topspin forehand into the match
The tennis in the tiebreak was sensational and brought the crowd to their feet multiple times, the rallies lasting 25-30 shots and both throwing caution to the wind. Twice Djokovic went a minibreak up and twice he was pegged back. He had set point on his serve at 6-5 as a Nadal forehand clipped the net and went wide but the Spaniard still refused to give in. Vicious wrong-footing forehands won the next two points and he clinched the set as Djokovic netted a return
Djokovic looked a beaten man. He played a dreadful game to go 2-0 down in set 2 and many feared Nadal would run away with it. That seemed to spark the Serb into life once more and he levelled at 2-2 . The match seemed destined for a final set when some uncharacteristic forehand errors from Nadal handed Djokovic a chance to serve for the set at 5-4. Still the Majorcan wouldn't give in though, Djokovic saved several break points, even doing the splits once but the Nadal forehand eventually bludegoned its way through and it was 5-5. Serving to stay in the match at 5-6 Djokovic fought hard to force a tiebreak but a forehand long gave Nadal championship point and he sealed his success with an athletic smash
“This week has been amazing for me,” said Nadal, “This tournament is very very tough and I could not imagine winning before the tournament. I thought it was almost impossible. I've played a great week to beat Ivo Karlovic, Andy Roddick and Djokovic. I've now won titles on every surface so I'm a more complete player than I was a week ago !”
“I think I played my best match at Queen's. I'm a little bit tired but I think with a few days rest I'm going to be ready for Wimbledon. And if not, it does not matter, because Wimbledon is very important and the motivation is 100%.”
Nadal pleased to have won in Queens
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Did you know that... Rafael Nadal won 81 consecutive matches on clay during 2005 and 2007.
RickyDimon, Dec 3, 2008 5:21 AM
posmatrac, Dec 3, 2008 4:30 AM
Navratilovastillplay, Dec 3, 2008 12:32 AM
tennisgirl, Dec 1, 2008 11:48 PM
lendl, Dec 1, 2008 6:17 PM
Navratilovastillplay, Dec 3, 2008 1:32 AM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:23 PM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:02 PM
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Stella Artois Championships
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Nadal deserves the Artois trophy!
The players that he beat and the manner that he beat them is just amazing1
agf25agf , 6/17/08 9:00 PM