An Enthralling Finale at the Eternal City

In 1978, Rome saw a classic duel between its two Masters, when the legendary Bjorn Borg defeated Adriano Panatta in five grinding sets. 31 years on, the Eternal City witnessed another battle between its two Masters, which was no less enthralling.

In an absorbing final, the numero uno Rafael Nadal downed the No.3 Novak Djokovic, 7-6(2),6-2, a score which belies the Hitchcockian thriller like twists and drama the grand finale had.

The match had all the stupendous baseline rallies, thundering groundstrokes, lethal forehands, blistering backhands, amazing angles, deft volleys and incredible passes that would make any tennis aficionado’s mouth water.

Nadal was fast off the blocks, asserting his domination by breaking the Serbian as early as the first game in their 17th face-off. But the defending champion, even though sometimes, unsure of his strategy, kept putting continued pressure on the Spaniard by pounding for winners.

His diligence was finally rewarded when Rafa missed two rare forehands while serving out the set and the score was levelled at 5-5.

The eternal dirtballer immediately broke back, inviting a racquet smash from the Serbian and consequently a racquet abuse warning from the chair umpire.

But he refused to wilt, breaking Rafa to head to a tiebreak.The Spaniard upped the intensity of his game and won the tiebreak and the first  set when a dropshot landed on Nole's own side of the net.

The second set too began brilliantly until the sixth game, when Nole double-faulted under severe pressure from Rafa. The six-time Grand Slam champion immediately capitalized on it and the former Australian Open Champion got no opportunity to rectify the mistake.

After two hours and three mins of high-level play, the inexorable Nadal closed out his 3^6th career title as he broke Djokovic for a second time when a feisty forehand off the line sailed past the Serbian as he stared in stupor.

With this, Rafa won an unprecedented fourth Rome title, surpassing Jaroslav Drobny (1950-52), Martin Mulligan (1963, ’65, ’67) and Thomas Muster (1990, ’95-96) who have won three titles in Rome.

This was a staggering 15th Masters 1000 title at the age of just 22! He takes over the second spot in the all-time Masters holders list, just two shy of the great Agassi.

Five titles already in the first five months of the year, the prodigy’s achievements speak of vertigo-inducing heights. He looks well-set to improve on his own best year of 2008 when he won eight titles and also well on course to catching up the unbelievable 45 clay titles of Guillermo Vilas.

The fist-pumping Mallorcan’s transformation into a more patient, poised World No. 1 gives testimony to his world-conquering spree as he captured his first Australian Open in January, then his second Indian Wells and record titles at Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and now at Rome.

But one can never miss the astounding humility that he exudes as he says,‘’I'm very happy for everything. Sure it's a big surprise for me to win three titles in a row in three weeks. But I never did in the past, so it's a good thing for me to know I can do."

As for the vanquished Djokovic, he will lose his World No. 3 ranking where he was cemented from August, 2007, to Andy Murray when the 2008 Rome points will drop on May 11. But he can hold his head high and take a lot of positives out of this match.

He had been playing some of the most splendid tennis since Miami when he lost to Andy Murray in the final. He has been playing an all-out attack and his volleys had been vicious. The winners count at the Rome final evidences to it, where he had 23 to Nadal’s 19.

He had beaten Roger Federer twice in the last couple of months and took a set off Nadal at the Monte-Carlo final. He began with the same confidence but was unable to sustain on the face of tremendous adversity from Rafa, who does not give his opponents a second chance.

He won his only title this year at Dubai where he beat David Ferrer and will be headlining his hometown event at Belgrade, beginning next week.

His biggest rival has been his poor fitness level which had been showing amazing improvement under the tutelary of Gebhard Phil-Gritsch (Thomas Muster’s trainer). If he can maintain it, he can undoubtedly continue producing some sterling tennis and challenging the other top three on the courts of Madrid and Paris.

At the end of the final, the fabulous impersonations of Nadal by Djokovic underlines the wonderful camaraderie that these two gladiators have.

It was a Rome final worth watching and remembering where entertainment was at its zenith.