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Awesome Nadal wins US Open final classic

Rafael Nadal clinched his ninth Grand Slam title © Getty Images

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Men's US Open Final gallery

Rafael Nadal produced one of the performances of his career to become only the seventh man in the history of men's tennis to win all four Grand Slam titles after he beat Novak Djokovic in Monday's US Open final.

In front of a packed crowd at Flushing Meadows, Nadal overcame a lengthy weather break and a standard of performance from Djokovic that has arguably never been bettered in the Serbian's career to win 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2. Capping a quite remarkable season, victory sees Nadal emulate Rod Laver as the first man since 1969 to record consecutive wins in the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

However, unlike his triumphs at Roland Garros and the All England Club, the world No. 1 was made to dig into his deepest repertoire to emerge victorious from a match that turned into a highlight reel of winners. Djokovic played the type of aggressive tennis that is necessary to beat Nadal, but he narrowly failed to equal the champion's unyielding consistency under pressure.

Sunday's postponement due to rain had given Djokovic the rest he deserved following his epic semi-final victory over Roger Federer, and he brought everything he had to the Arthur Ashe court, yet he still lost out to the relentless ground strokes of his opponent. The standard of tennis was of such a supreme level that members of both camps regularly applauded their rival's shot, but it was Nadal, playing in his first US Open final, whose power-hitting eventually increased his tally of Grand Slams to nine, seven behind Federer.

Despite being the clear underdog, Djokovic actually had real reason to believe ahead of the match. An overall record of 14 losses in 21 meetings with Nadal hid the fact that Djokovic had won the last three, cementing a winning 7-3 record on hard courts. He had also been on court just an hour longer than the Spaniard throughout the two weeks.

However, Djokovic took time to loosen up in his second US Open final, dropping the opening service game of the match as he appeared to struggle with a stiff ankle. And, considering Nadal had won 98 percent of his service games throughout the tournament, Djokovic could have been forgiven for discarding the set as a lost cause. However, the No. 3 seed has battled stubbornly since the opening round of the tournament, when he nearly lost to Viktor Troicki, and he summoned similar energy to get back on terms at 2-2.

Rafael Nadal created over 20 break points © Getty Images

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Nadal looked agitated, annoyed that he had been made to look mortal, and he used those emotions to good effect in order to immediately restore his advantage. This time the world's best player shut the door on his opponent, firing inside-out forehands to the corners to close out the first set 6-4.

Having never beaten Nadal in a five-set match, Djokovic had to focus on the positive statistics surrounding Monday's final, like the fact he had returned more consistently than his rival over the two weeks. He had also converted more break points, so when Nadal found himself 0-40 down in the fourth game of the second set, he should not have been surprised when Djokovic rattled off a spell of eight unanswered points to move to 4-1.

Nadal's response was to increase the topspin on his forehand and to inject greater velocity into his backhand down the line, with one such shot cancelling out his opponent's break, before a storm arrived to halt proceedings at 4-4 and 30-30 on the Djokovic serve.

Inevitably talk turned to which player would take longer to shake off any rust following the two-hour delay, but a forehand winner from Nadal and an outrageous backhand finish by Djokovic quickly confirmed that both men were at the very top of their game. By the end of the second set, Djokovic had hit an incredible 17 winners and only seven unforced errors, deservedly drawing level in the match as Nadal dropped his first set of the tournament.

Back in 2007 Djokovic had been a passenger when he lost his first US Open final to Federer, but this time he was participating in a spell of tennis arguably never bettered in New York. The only problem was that the blow-for-blow nature of the contest was bringing the best out of Nadal, whose two-handed running cross-court backhand to set up 0-40 early in the third set drew applause even from the man on the opposite side of the net. Djokovic's serve had been broken and the third set was Nadal's eventual reward, but only after Djokovic pulled out the undoubted point of the tournament to leave the world No. 1 literally at a standstill.

In terms of winners Nadal was now leading his foe 40-37, but the telling difference was the break points column, where he had created 21 opportunities to Djokovic's three. A huge forehand down the line brought up two more for Nadal at the start of the fourth set, and Djokovic duly sent one long to ease Nadal to the cusp of victory.

Unbeaten in his last 20 Grand Slam matches, Nadal had been tested far more than in any of those encounters, but his answer was simply to raise his game to a level currently unrivalled by any other player in the world. At 4-1 Djokovic summoned the energy to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at his opponent one last time, but another heartbreaking backhand winner from Nadal broke the Serbian's will, before one more sizzling forehand set up match point to bring the curtain down on a final that will live long in the memory.

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