Novak Djokovic defeated Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3 in the 2016 Miami Open final. The Tennis Review takes a look at another few slices of history for the world No.1.
Djokovic now leads the ATP 1000 title leader-board with 28 trophies.
That haul will, barring injury or a sudden rise in one of his rival’s form or a drop in his own, only increase, too, with three Clay ATP 1000s coming up in the run-up to Roland Garros.
Rafael Nadal is next on the leader-board with 27, and Roger Federer is third with 24.
Djokovic won his sixth Miami Open, tying Andre Agassi’s haul.
Djokovic also becomes the first player since Agassi (2001-03) to win three consecutive Miami Open titles.
Like Agassi, Djokovic is one of the best aggressive base-liners to ever play the game, and has capitalized on that even more than Agassi could with his dedication to the sport and his subsequent incredible fitness and defensive skills.
Djokovic has now completed the North American Spring Swing double three times.
The Indian Wells- Miami double has traditionally been a hard one to win- it is, for the top seeds, 12 back to back wins over three and a half weeks in windy, humid conditions against the world’s best tennis players.
For Djokovic, though, it is more than manageable, and largely because no one is better at managing both his own games and those of his rivals. The world No.1 used his strategic smarts to get past 11 of his 12 rivals in straight sets. The only set he lost was to his Indian Wells opening round opponent Bjorn Fratangelo.
Djokovic’s response to dropping that set? To drop just three more games the rest of the match and to win eleven straight sets matches on his way to creating more ATP tour history.
Kei Nishikori started the final well, but that only seemed to push Djokovic to greater heights.
Djokovic was once again the heavy favorite going into the final so when Nishikori broke in the opening game, we hoped we had a match on our hands with Nishikori in decent form, having scored two wins over Djokovic in their 8 meetings, and getting off to the best possible start.
With the last ATP 1000 final to go the distance being the Montreal final back in August 2015, a three setter in Miami was much needed. However, Djokovic, who had won the last three ATP 1000s in straight set finals, likes to get things done as straightforwardly as possible and broke the Japanese for 1-1 before holding to love for 2-1.
Nishikori still performed well- he won the first five rallies of the match going over nine shots- and at 2-3 had a point for 3-3 on his serve. But he lost the lengthy rally that really mattered- 14 shots-with a forced forehand error into the net and then lost another lengthy rally on the next point with an identical forced error to face break point.
Djokovic got some luck on that break point- his backhand cross-court hit the net, pulled Nishikori in, and left the Japanese’ forehand side of the court wide open. Djokovic duly converted with a passing shot down the line winner to lead 4-2.
The Japanese’s fighting skills, tested so intensely versus Gael Monfils in the last eight, were in full flow once more and the sixth seed broke back for 3-4 with a line-painting backhand cross-court winning return.
Such a shot is what makes Nishikori so highly regarded, but that flash of promise was swiftly broken as Djokovic broke back immediately for 5-3.
The set within his grasp, Djokovic’s athleticism really came to the fore- a backhand down the line winner on the stretch for 30-0 has to be the shot of the match- and his serve was at its most clutch as a service winner closed out the game to love and the set 6-3.
Djokovic then broke at the start of the second, and carried the momentum all the way to a 4-2 lead, punctuating his command of the match with another fine backhand down the line winner. The Serb then threatened to break for 5-2, but Nishikori fought him off and held for 3-4.
Watch highlights of Djokovic’s Miami Open final over Kei Nishikori in the clip below.
Kei Nishikori had to call an injury time out in the second set.
One thing that really separates Novak Djokovic from the rest of the tour is his fitness. His opponents are not only battling the first player to have more than double the points of the ATP No.2, but are also battling their own bodies.
Like Milos Raonic in the recent Indian Wells final, Kei Nishikori was troubled by an injury and had to call the trainer at 3-4 down in the second set.
The Japanese, who was rarely in contention in the match, was now even less so, and the world No.1 took the final two games, winning his serve to love for 5-3, and then fighting back from game point down to break Nishikori and take the match 6-3, 6-3.
Thank you #MiamiOpen, thank you #NoleFam! pic.twitter.com/RjSyZJ0Vu2
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) April 3, 2016
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Djokovic now goes into the clay season with as much confidence as he could possibly need with four titles this season.
Djokovic’s 2016 is looking much like 2015, though the world No.1, who put together arguably the greatest season ever in 2015, would like this season to be quite different in one regard.
Going into the 2015 clay court swing with the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami titles did not do much for Djokovic when it really mattered, however, as he lost the Roland Garros final to Stan Wawrinka.
Since that loss, though, Djokovic has really stepped it up for the finals, producing his best tennis at that stage of tournaments.
The world No.1 has had plenty of practice winning big titles since Roland Garros ’15 with three slams, a WTF, four ATP 1000s, an ATP 500, and an ATP 250 on his resume.
Those numbers give us an idea how much Djokovic has learned from that Roland Garros final loss about raising his game when he really needs it, but we will only really find out much that unexpected defeat has taught him the first weekend of June.
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