Without showing his best version, far from it, Novak Djokovic has the virtue of being a voracious winner in any circumstance. This Monday he proved it in the final in Rome. After a bad start against Diego Schwartzman, the Serbian he got up to win 7-5 and 6-3 in 1h: 53 and took his 36th Masters 1,000 title, with which he overtook Rafa Nadal (35) and heads the historical list.It is the 81st trophy of his career, the fifth in the Eternal City and the fourth of the season in as many finals (he also won the Australian Open, Dubai and Cincinnati). If he had not lost his papers in the US Open with that hit to a linesman that cost him the disqualification, we could be talking about a pristine course that he commands with a mark of 31 victories and only one defeat, that of New York against Carreño .
Great day for number one, who overtakes Pete Sampras (286) in weeks as world ranking leader with 287, only behind Federer (318), and leaves Italy with 400 more points in the pocket in his fight with Nadal, since last year he was runner-up in the tournament. Now it accumulates 11,260, 1,410 more than the Balearic who maintains 9,850. “I have not played my best tennis this week, but I have found it when I needed it,” he said after beating a Schwartzman That made him uneasy on the way out, but ended up fused in his first class final for a demanding week in which he finally beat Nadal after a 9-0 match and achieved another even more epic victory on Sunday against Shapovalov.
Having a 3-0 with two breaks ahead of Djokovic is a unique opportunity that few, very few times does a player have against the world number one. Schwartzman had it and did not take advantage of it. The Serbian, erratic especially with the backhand and with a bad temper, was not able to overcome the Buenos Aires as soon as the exchanges lengthened. In addition, the rain threatened the normal course of the game and bothered him. For any other tennis player, the comeback would have been almost impossible, but after the first break the Balkan came out ready to do it, put together his drive to get out of trouble and won four games in a row. Diego began to notice the fatigue of the beatings that occurred in the quarterfinals and semifinals and his few failures, including some very inopportune double faults, came at the worst moments for him. Djokovic had a set point at 5-4 and did not convert it, but those who were presented again to the rest at 6-5 did.
Relieved from roaring like he had after coming back on Saturday in the first set against Ruud, Nole was strangely caught on his serve and conceded an exit break in the second set. The joy did not last long for his rival, who lost his next and from there at the end of the game he did not see the door against an improved Djokovic. He has the consolation of having won for the first time in his career against Nadal and on clay, and the certainty that his tennis has returned. And what to say about the victor, well, what a bad thing or a good one does not fail when he enters a dominating trance.