By Mason Walling
 |
| Photo Courtesy of stevegtennis.com |
Yes, Rafael Nadal finished the 2013
season as the No. 1-ranked player in the world, but Novak Djokovic is the one
who went out with a bang.
On
Monday, Djokovic defeated Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in the finals of the Barclays ATP
World Tour year-end tournament. In fact,
after losing to Nadal in the championship match of the U.S. Open this year,
Djokovic went on a 22-match hot streak without losing to finish out the
season.
Going
into this matchup of already historic proportions, Djokovic and Nadal had met
in the finals of tournaments a total of 18 times, and interestingly enough, the
series was all tied up. Djokovic became the seventh man ever to hoist the
Barclays Trophy in London three times over the course of his career.
Nadal
was only able to hit a total of nine winners in this match, and he was broken
an uncharacteristic three times.
Djokovic was able to utilize his serve to generate aces or jump ahead
early in points by putting Nadal on the defensive. On hard courts, Djokovic seems to be the
heavy favorite at the moment, as he has won 13-of-20 over Nadal head-to-head.
This
is the only final of great significance that Nadal has failed to capture in his
career, as he has won all four Grand Slams, Olympic Gold, and the Davis
Cup. The only man to win all of these
events and the Barclays ATP World Tour is Andre Agassi.
Djokovic
will try to continue his late-year dominance later this week in his native land
of Belgrade, as Serbia will take on the defending champion Czech Republic in
the Davis Cup finals. The Serbs, however,
will have to do so without key members Janko Tipsarevic, who is battling a heel
injury, and Victor Troicki, who is currently serving a 12-month suspension for
doping.
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