Sports Thread #1/The 2010 US Open Thread For 9/13/10: King Of Them All

Nothing was going to stop him.

Not oppressive heat. Not capricious winds. Not torrential rain. Not a fast surface. Not even small, usual green balls.

And today, not Novak Djokovic.

Rafael Nadal has won the only Grand Slam that had eluded him, defeating good friend Novak Djokovic in an enjoyable, if not delayed, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 result.

Along with becoming only the 7th man to win the Grand Slam, Nadal also becomes only the second man ever to win three straight Grand Slams in a calendar year, joining only Rod Laver to accomplish the remarkable feat.

It seemed destiny would fall to the Serbian arms, blessed with the match's one day postponement, timing rain delays after dropping the 1st set, and his fine record against Nadal on hard courts.
And it seemed that way after he battled to capture a terrific back and forth second set, hitting his backhand down the line shot to optimum levels.

But after the first game of the third, Djokovic's level of play went down, and Nadal rose to the occasion.

The break of Djokovic's serve in the third game of the key third set turned out to be the turning point of the match, as Nadal was never seriously troubled on serve the rest of that set to get within one set of history.

And that history unfolded in full bloom in the fourth set, as a fatiguing Djokovic just did not have anything left to seriously push Nadal and make the nerves of the occasion possibly get to him.

The ultimate moment in the ultimate match for Nadal came when Djokovic pushed his final stroke wide to have the Mallorcan legend collapse to the ground, knowing he had garnered a win even more satisfying than any of his 8 previous major titles.

With his family in full attendance, and everyone in the cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium happily joining in on the felicitation, Rafael Nadal certainly created one of the memorable moments not only in the annuals of tennis, but in all of sports this year.

Nothing couldn't stop his journey to a sweet title. And nothing will stop the euphoria from the sweetest feeling.