Novak’s Back! Djokovic To Face Rafael Nadal in 2010 US Open Final

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at Internationaled.org

Published: September 12, 2010

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Novak Djokovic hasn’t made it easy—not for himself and not for those who backed him from the start.

It’s been three years since he lost his first major final at the 2007 US Open to Roger Federer, who actually said that the straight-set result belied the match’s competitiveness. Only months later, Djokovic had finally pulled through, winning the Australian Open and beating Federer along the way.

Djokovic looked to have the whole package required for greatness: marvelous athleticism, a complete game centered on heavy groundstrokes and, crucially, a hunger to be the best. Late that spring, he faced off with Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of Roland Garros, in his fifth consecutive major semi.

Nadal was in the midst of the best form of his entire career though, and won it in straights. After winning just six games in the first two sets, the Serb dug in to force a tiebreak in the third—in the process, winning more games against the ascendant Spaniard than anyone else in that tournament would.

But that loss still looked to have hit him hard. His semifinal streak ended at Wimbledon, and though he regained it at the US Open, that’s the round where he fell to Federer.

That sequence of losses haunted Djokovic pretty much until today. At Wimbledon 2009, he got back to the quarterfinal stage, a streak that he has kept going at every major since, but something intangible seemed to impede him on big occasions.

Sometimes the competition has just been too tough, like in Federer’s semifinal wins over him at the last two Opens.

His well-known but still undiagnosed breathing problems derailed him at this year’s Australian Open against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But his later defeats this year were just maddening, like losing to Jurgen Melzer despite being up two sets and a break this year in Paris, and double-faulting away his final service game against Tomas Berdy...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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