If the match itself was anticlimactic, the achievement was not. By defeating Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-1, Rafael Nadal won the Rolex Monte Carlo Open for the eighth straight year while also breaking the stranglehold the Serb had enjoyed against him, winning the last seven finals they had played.
"First of all you need luck," Nadal said afterward. True. You also need to be an extraordinary athlete and an amazing competitor. This is one of the nine ATP Masters Series 1000 tournaments, a level just below the Grand Slams. Winning it once is an achievement but this run of success at any event is unprecedented in the Open era. Ilie Nastase, who was here this week, won three straight titles between 1971-73 but otherwise one needs to go way back in the history books, to the very beginning of this tournament which was dominated for its first 10 years by British brothers Reg and Lawrie Doherty, who kept it in the family between 1897 and 1906.
But this modern age requires a completely different level of expertise and athleticism and it is unlikely that anyone in the future will be able to emulate Nadal's feat although the man himself could extend it. Who would bet against him winning here again next year?
Obviously Nadal was thrilled at his success but there was an elephant out there on court and it involved Djokovic's state of mind. On Thursday his grandfather Vladimir Djokovic, who had been his mentor and inspiration, had died. On Saturday he was buried in Serbia. After much thought, Novak had decided to play on, missing the funeral. Reaching the final took great mental strength but he ran out of it Sunday.
"I definitely don't want to take anything away from Rafa's win," said the world No. 1. "He deserved to win today. He was the better player. But it's a fact that I didn't have any emotional energy left in me. It was a bad day. If I wanted to have any chance of winning against Rafa on clay, I needed that extra gear which I didn't have. I've never been caught up in this kind of emotional situation before. I won three matches since the news that I got. I think I did pretty well. Obviously today I faced a better player. That's all I can say."
Nadal was not about to get into his opponent's emotional state. Asked if he felt Djokovic was at his best, he replied, "No, Djokovic wasn't the real best Djokovic. But my real best is when I play well and when I play bad. The real Rafa is not only when I play my best. If I take that for myself, the same for the others. Djokovic had amazing year and a half, always perfect, no mistakes. Today he had more mistakes than usual. I won 6-3, 6-1 which is for sure not normal to win against the best player of the world. But it happened. Very happy for my victory. Sorry for him."
It is clear that Nadal's mind is already on the future, not just at Barcelona where he plays next week (and Djokovic doesn't) but the Masters 1000 tournaments in Rome and Madrid where the Serb beat him last year and then the French Open where he will expect Djokovic, who lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals there a year ago, to meet him in the final this time.
"It's a very mental game," Djokovic had observed a few minutes before. He was referring to his current state of mind but Nadal, the ultimate competitor, is already thinking ahead and does not want to give an inch.
Technically, Nadal will take some pointers with him into future battles. "Yesterday I said in press conference that I have to return a little bit more aggressive, I have to return a little bit longer (deeper). I did. I did very good backhand returns. And against his forehand , try not to open up the court a lot. When you open the court to a lot of players you are in a good position. But against him not, because he's able to open you more with the next shot. So I try to hit more to the middle. After that I felt I can change directions."
It was windy again and Nadal mastered the conditions better than an opponent who was not in the right state of mind to buckle down and be patient. It will be different next time. For now Nadal has simply laid down a marker. He rules here and even Prince Albert is not about to argue.
