Nadal vs. Djokovic: Rafael Nadal Proves Madrid Was a Fluke with Win in Rome

Rafael Nadal slipped from his world No. 2 ranking after a shocking loss at the Madrid Open, but all doubters were silenced after his win over No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Rome just over a week later.

Coming off of a loss to Fernando Verdasco in the third round at Madrid on May 10, Nadal had a lot to prove—mostly that he could still contend with top competition...as long as the courts were to his liking and preferably weren't blue. There was no better way to prove his mettle than registering a win over the best player in the world at the Italian Open.

Nadal accomplished that feat, winning 7-5, 6-3, and he moved back into his rightful No. 2 spot.

What made the win even sweeter, however, wasn't the fact that it came off of that bizarre and unexpected loss to Verdasco. It was the fact that he has lost to Djokovic seven of the eight times they've faced each another, that he lost in straight sets to Djokovic in last year's final and the fact that he desperately needed a win to get his momentum rolling before he embarks on the defense of his French Open title on Sunday.

A sixth Rome Masters win wasn't a bad way to accomplish all three of those items at once.

Djokovic made far more mistakes than usual, playing so poorly that he busted up his racket after one particularly frustrating slew of errors, but it was up to Nadal to capitalize. That he did, playing excellent defense and outdoing his rival's athleticism.

Now, Nadal will leapfrog Roger Federer and regain his No. 2 ranking, where he probably would have been all along had it not been for the pesky blue courts at Madrid—a tournament that neither he nor Djokovic plan to play at next year unless the traditional red clay is restored.

Before his win at Rome, Nadal's excuses for his loss at Madrid seemed like just that: excuses. Some said that Djokovic and Federer found ways to win on the uncharacteristically slippery blue courts, and if Nadal could hang with them, he would've found a way to prevail, too.

But it wasn't Nadal's physical ability that got in the way of his performance at Madrid; it was his mind. So this time, he made sure that he wasn't the one who committed the kind of mental errors that would cost him a win. Instead, his opponent did, and all he had to do was take advantage.

Now that he has his head back in the game, he's just as dangerous as ever heading into the French Open.