2013 US Open: Rafael Nadal adds to his growing legend with second US Open crown

Rafael Nadal poses with the US Open champions trophy along with Novak Djokovic who holds the runner-up shield (Getty Images)

Perhaps the folks at Nike know something that we do not.

The stylish grey shirt of Rafael Nadal has 16 shiny dots on the back. We do know now that the indefatigable Spanish warrior, with the Queen of Spain in attendance, marched inexorably to eclipse Novak Djokovic and clinch his 13th Grand Slam title at the US Open in New York. Djokovic threatened briefly during the middle of the match, but Nadal turned the tide to emerge victorious 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 after 3 hours and 24 minutes inside the Arthur Ashe stadium court.

At 30-30 in the first game of this promising finale, it was already apparent that the match would prove to be tight as nails and take a mighty effort from both players. An ace from Djokovic sealed the first game; a brilliant forehand return winner from the Serbian followed by a backhand into the net from the Spaniard took the second game to deuce. Nadal though, took the next two points to hold for 1-1.

Just in the third game, with the air filled with palpable tension, Djokovic made consecutive errors to offer the first break point to Nadal. The Serbian was let off on that one, but he offered a second when he sank a forehand into the net. Nadal unleashed a forehand loaded with topspin and Djokovic responded with a loopy forehand to mid-court, which the Spaniard put away to seal the break.

Nadal dumped a backhand in the net to fall to 0-30, but Djokovic’s forehand let him down thrice in a row. Nadal held serve to consolidate his advantage at 3-1. In the seventh game, Djokovic failed to put away an overhead and Nadal imposed himself quickly after that.

At 0-40 down, Djokovic struck a powerful forehand crosscourt that wasn’t called. The Spaniard challenged to discover that it was out and earned the second break of the set. Nadal followed up a big serve to the net to earn his first set point with a forehand winner.

Djokovic then sent a forehand long to help his opponent bag the opening set in 42 minutes. The differential was one of the telling statistics of the first set – Djokovic was a (-8) [6 winners -14 errors] while Nadal had a (+3) [7-4)].

Djokovic earned his first break points of the match at 15-40 in the second game of the second set, but Nadal spun his way out of trouble to keep it even at 1-1. The Serbian was clearly suffering from a hangover – the strain of the five set ordeal against Stanislas Wawrinka had clearly not worn off for Djokovic.

Nadal’s ability to transition from defence to offence was amply evident in the fourth game – Nadal using his backhand slice on the run to keep Djokovic engaged before nailing him with a powerful short-angled winner to squeeze out another easy service game at 2-2.

A brilliant backhand drop volley by Djokovic earned him a third break point. And it took a mighty effort to make it stick. The Serbian came out on the right side of a monstrous 54 shot rally to break Nadal and take a 4-2 lead.