The top-ranked Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic were deadlocked and running out of energy heading into the final-set tiebreaker as a lively crowd of 14,625 — the largest ever to watch the championship in Key Biscayne — enjoyed every minute of the compelling action. After lopsided results in the men’s semifinals and women’s final, the audience was finally getting its money’s worth.
Djokovic rallied from a set down to beat Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in a match that lasted 3 hours 21 minutes. When it was finally over, when the Serb’s forehand cross-court winner whizzed out of Nadal’s reach on match point, he raised his arms skyward and roared, as he did when he first won this tournament in 2007. And the Djokovic fans serenaded their hero with “No-lay! No-lay!” — his Serbian nickname.
Djokovic: "I had lots of winners and I decreased the number of unforced errors coming into the second set, which was important to me. I wanted, you know, to make him play an extra shot, not give him a lot of free points, and try to get some free points out of serve, which wasn't happening that much. (Ultimately), I had to work—both of us had to work for each point in this match, especially in the third set."
Djokovic rallied from a set down to beat Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in a match that lasted 3 hours 21 minutes. When it was finally over, when the Serb’s forehand cross-court winner whizzed out of Nadal’s reach on match point, he raised his arms skyward and roared, as he did when he first won this tournament in 2007. And the Djokovic fans serenaded their hero with “No-lay! No-lay!” — his Serbian nickname.
Djokovic: "I had lots of winners and I decreased the number of unforced errors coming into the second set, which was important to me. I wanted, you know, to make him play an extra shot, not give him a lot of free points, and try to get some free points out of serve, which wasn't happening that much. (Ultimately), I had to work—both of us had to work for each point in this match, especially in the third set."
