Novak Djokovic: “Rafa blew me away from the court in the first set”

Rafael Nadal claimed his ninth Italian Open title as he beat Novak Djokovic in three sets on Sunday. The defending champion triumphed 6-0 4-6 6-1 in two hours and 25 minutes in Rome. It was the 54th meeting between world number two Nadal and one Djokovic, and the first in which either player had won a set without conceding a game. The Serb was pleased with the way he fought in the second set after suffering a bagel in the first and with the fact he managed to stay in the match without having too much left in the tank. "I'm really glad that I managed to send the match into the third set, considering the first where I was blown away from the court. The third set was not much different from the first. The first three or four games of the third set were quite close. Maybe that's where I had a slight chance to kind of build on the momentum that I had from winning the second set," said Djokovic.  “Yeah, I was running out of fuel a little bit today. Just missed that half a step, especially on the backhand side, and Rafa used it very well. He's been playing some terrific tennis throughout the entire week and was just too strong today. I think it was a great week considering I was one shot away from losing the quarter-final against del Potro. As I've said, I haven't played my best today, I haven't felt my best but at the same time I managed to fight. “That's the positive I take from it. In the second set, it was better. Just overall, yeah, as I said, I lacked a little bit more of a dynamic movement, attacking the ball. Well, I mean, his level was very high, without a doubt, throughout the entire tournament. I knew that. But, I started a bit slower, not as fresh in my legs and he used that fact. It took me a bit of time to kind of get used to his pace of the ball, which is entirely different. I played last, what, two, three matches, three matches out of four matches in the night session, with different bounce. It doesn't bounce higher than the waistline. During the day it's different, especially with his forehand. I tried to get used to where the ball is bouncing, where I have to kind of position myself to hit it well."

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