With Roger Federer suffering an enforced lay-off that will see him miss the entire clay court season, the chance is there for both Rafael Nadal and Novak Dkjokovic to press home their already-commanding lead in the ATP rankings.
In Mexico, Rafael Nadal made it three wins in Acapulco as he smashed all before him, not even dropping a set as he completed a routine series victory that saw him earn the accolade of becoming the third man to win the Mexican Open three times, joining Thomas Muster and David Ferrer to have that honour. Nadal’s record is possibly the most impressive, given that he is now the youngest-ever and oldest-ever champion to win the Mexican Open.
In the final, it was familiar one-way traffic as the 33-year-old Nadal battered his opponent, Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-2 in little over an hour. It was relentless, with Nadal slamming returns down at what must have felt like frightening power to Fritz. As Nadal told interviewers after the game, he found the final enjoyable and felt it was important after failing to win the Australian Open.
“After not competing since Australia, it’s an important week for me and an important moment,” he said. “I played with the right intensity and the right passion, and my forehand worked well. It means another good start of the season for me. It gives me confidence, allows me to be in a privileged position in the ATP Race. Regardless of the result, I am always happy after playing here. Now imagine how I am after getting the title!”
Nadal still retains the excitement at winning an ATP title that he had when he was a young man, and has now won 85 ATP singles titles including his 19 Grand Slam singles titles that see him closing in on Roger Federer’s record haul of 20. Nadal also has a record 35 ATP Masters 1000 titles, a phenomenal statistic.
While Nadal was crushing dreams in Mexico and earning $372,785 in the process, Dubai was being lit up by Novak Djokovic, who was busy winning his 79th ATP singles title by defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic, the only male player to have won all nine of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, beat his Greek opponent 6-3, 6-4 to continue his unbeaten start 2020 into its third month.
That unbeaten record was under serious threat in the semi-final of the Dubai event, as Djokovic was faced by three consecutive match points to his opponent, French journeyman of tennis, Gael Monfils.
Djokovic, however, is never beaten until the final matchpoint has been converted against him and won his 21st consecutive match of the year after helping Serbia to the ATP Cup Final victory and taking home his eighth Australian Open title in Melbourne in January. To date, in nine weeks this year, Djokovic has won 43 out of the 49 sets he has played, an almost unbelievably strong record he was happy to reflect on with the reporting team at the side of the court.
“I’m trying to embrace the moment and appreciate where I am,” said Djokovic. “I think this has been one of the best starts of all the seasons I had in my career. I feel great on the court. I’ve been playing great tennis on hard courts that [are] my most successful and preferred surface. I’ve won many matches now in a row. I’ll try to keep that run going. It’s just way too early to speak about how long that run might go. I try to focus on what I need to do with myself and my team in order to thrive every day [and] play as best as I can every single match. That’s the main focus.”
After a single break in the first set coming in the eighth game of the match, Djokovic slammed a backhand across the court to effectively take the set after a single service hold.
With each man getting a break early in the second set, the decisive moment would come with the scores level at 4-4. Tsitsipas committed two forehand errors to give the Serb a chance to steal the advantage, and a superb drop shot from Djokovic did the trick. The service hold came with ease and that meant he had the match and $565,705 in prize money.
