The 23rd edition of this matchup between two of the greatest tennis players who ever lived lasted just 1 hour and 15 mins on a humid night here on Key Biscayne and the night belonged to Rafael Nadal.
The world No. 1 defeated his archrival and good friend Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 — one game better than the score of 6-3, 6-3 he inflicted on the Swiss as a raw 17-year-old when they met for the very first time in the second round here in 2004. They have created sporting history since then, gracing tennis courts all over the world with epic duels like those at Wimbledon, Melbourne and Rome but Nadal, despite losing two of their last two encounters, usually has had the edge and now leads the series 15-8.
The stats never tell the whole story but, in this instance, they revealed a lot of what went on in front of a wildly enthusiastic crowd which acclaimed both men with seemingly equal fervor until they started chanting Roger's name as the match slipped away from him. Federer had 18 winners to Nadal's 8 but it was the so-called unforced errors that undid the Swiss. He had had 31 to Nadal's 10.
Why? Because Federer's game is all about attack while Nadal is the greatest defensive player the world has ever seen. The technical aspect is clear. Butch Buchholz, the founder of this tournament and a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in his day, explained it this way. "With the amount of spin Nadal puts on the ball you cannot take great top spin swings at it yourself and hope to hit it cleanly every time. It's just not possible. The timing has to be too perfect. A split second out and the ball can fly anywhere. That's why Roger's errors look so bad when they miss by yards. If you want to be consistent against Nadal you have to hit a flatter ball."
Federer had his own explanation. "It's always a bit of an adjustment to come and play a lefty, any lefty, but Rafa in particular. I tried to warm up with a lefty, Bob Bryan, and tried to get acclimatized but it's hard. The conditions weren't favoring me because it was slow. That just makes it so hard to hit through him on a surface like this. Then maybe you try to overhit a bit and then obviously start making the wrong decisions on big points."
There was no bigger point than 30-40 on Nadal's serve in the opening game of the second set. It was one of only two break points Federer had in the match and it all went horribly wrong for Roger. He put Nadal under pressure with a deep return but when the Spaniard hit a high, whirring forehand that seemed to swerve in the air, Federer, usually so beautifully balanced, got his feet all mixed up as he tried to adjust to the flight of the ball and barely made contact. It just about summed up his night.
"I don't know what would have happened if he had won that break point," said Nadal afterwards. "You never know how something like that can change a match. He can get confident and start to play better. We don't know. But I thought his level went down in the second set because I had played at a very high level in the first set. I was hitting long so it was not easy for him to go inside the court. He wanted to play short points and be more aggressive but I don't think he had the feeling to do this tonight."
So now it is the seemingly unstoppable Djokovic in the final for Nadal — the second time the pair will meet in successive ATP Masters 1000 tournaments after Djokovic won at Indian Wells. "He is winning very easy; playing fantastic," Nadal said of the Serb. "But I am playing better now. I feel good. We shall see."
