SYDNEY, Australia — Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal and then went back on court within an hour and won the deciding doubles encounter to secure Serbia’s victory over Spain in the inaugural ATP Cup final.
“I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life — it’s one of the nicest moments of my career,” Djokovic said. “I’ve been very fortunately blessed, had an amazing career over the last 15 years, but playing for a team, playing for a country with some of my best friends is just — you can’t match that. It’s too special.”
Nadal, who hasn’t beaten Djokovic on a hard surface since the 2013 U.S. Open final, withdrew from the doubles, citing fatigue, saying he had confidence in his teammate Lopez, a four-time Davis Cup champion. “I think is a great competition, but at the same time — I can’t change my mind that two World Cups in one month is not real. So is not possible,” he said. “So we need to find a way to fix it and we need to find a way to make a big deal with ITF and ATP to create a big World Team Cup competition, not two. I think that’s a confusion for the spectators, and we need to be clear in our sport.”
He broke Nadal’s serve in the opening game, which lasted eight minutes and included two requests from the umpire to the crowd to keep quiet during the service motion. The Spaniard found his range in the second set, though, conceding just a point in each of his first three service games. He had also had a huge opportunity to go up a break in the sixth game, but was unable to convert five chances as Djokovic rallied from 0-40 to hold.