Djokovic also made sure that the riddle he keeps presenting to everyone who has tried and failed to beat him this year will keep rolling into early 2012, when everyone convenes again for the Australian Open: Exactly how do you defeat a player who combines the superior footspeed of Nadal and the world-best service return game Andre Agassi once had with the brilliant shotmaking Pete Sampras used to pull off on the run and the impenetrable confidence that Roger Federer once had?
He displaced Nadal as the toughest man in tennis, too.
Nadal was great. Yet it wasn't good enough. Djokovic was better.
Still, the accumulated strain of it all was so great that by the start of the fourth set, the 24-year-old Djokovic took a long medical timeout to lay on his stomach on the court and get treatment on his back. His legs were cramping, too. And the 25-year-old Nadal, who's far more famous for being tireless, stayed jackknifed at the waist after losing one point and used his racket like a crutch to push himself back up.
How long Djokovic can stay at this spectacular level is a question that will be answered another day. So far, it's been nine months, 66 matches and counting. And yet Nadal, rather than sounding as depressed as he did after losing Wimbledon, promised Monday that the next time he sees Djokovic he'll bring even more haymakers to throw at him. Nadal feels himself getting closer to toppling Djokovic. He does.
"I don't 'enjoy' battling him -- six straight losses, for sure, it's painful," Nadal said. "But I'm going to work every day until that changes. ... I have a goal. He is the goal for me now."
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