Written by Steve Law | 03 July 2011

Gentlemen's Final: Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Novak Djokovic, or Nole as he is more simply and affectionately known, put in an exemplary display that turned heads and had people gasping at his brilliance as he made the seemingly impossible become possible.

In a display of utter dominance for at least three out of the four sets this afternoon,  Djokovic took his first Wimbledon title and made his childhood dreams come true.

With performances throughout the championship often failing to meet the standard Djokovic has began to expect of himself, today there was little doubt who is the current best player in the world; Nole even had moments of toying with his opponent as if, in the words of Tim Henman, “he had him on a piece of string”.

Djokovic breezed through the first set 6-4 and utterly outclassed Nadal in the second 6-1. Nadal, who appears to have added to his box of ticks with a quick step ‘zumba’, (the new and fashionable way of keeping fit for the middle classes involving cross-over steps and various jumping moves), as he’s readying to receive serve, was certainly not playing his best tennis. But this was mainly due to the lack of opportunity given to him by Djokovic as opposed to a poor game plan, a lack of form or any sign of that foot injury.

The damage that Nadal normally inflicts with his meat cleaver forehand was neutralised by Djokovic’s master anticipational skills, ‘moving like the clappers’ skills and Agassi-like court positioning. Federer has never been able to overcome the heavy-lefty forehand into the single handed backhand basic tactical advantage that Nadal has had over him, especially on clay, but Djokovic with the aid of his double handed backhand and electrifying speed has miraculously found a way through.

In the third set Nadal took an early break and came back to take the set, but again it was due to the inability of Djokovic to maintain his supreme level as opposed to any change of intensity or game-plan from Nadal.

Djokovic took an early break in the fourth, and re-asserted his dominace, but Nadal kept fighting, as only he knows how, and struck lucky with a dead net chord and broke back immediately to level the set at 2-2. Djokovic broke once more and had the chance to serve out the match at 5-3.

If, at this stage, we were ever in doubt at Djokovic’s mental state, he serve-volleyed for the first time in the match and put away a clean backhand volley winner to set up match point; courageous and clever.

On match point he kept his foot on the gas and approached with an aggressive forehand into Nadals weaker side to force the error, and fell flat on his back in celebration as Nadal's backhand flew long. The final score: 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3

Djokovic has seen all his dreams come true in a single weekend. As not only is he the new Wimbledon champion but tomorrow he will be the new official number 1 player in the world. Not to mention £1.1m better off. It remains to be seen whether he can maintain the intensity to keep himself right at the top of the game for a lengthy period. But one thing is for sure; Ole,ole,ole will be back.

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