Last year, Novak Djokovic made his second career run to the US Open final, overcoming a two-set deficit in his first round match, defeating five-time champion Roger Federer in the semifinals in five sets and then played a solid final against Rafael Nadal, despite a loss.
Since then he has not made any major changes to his game, but wins and more experience like those, changed his mental approach to facing other top players. He is hitting shots he did not in the past few years, and with more aggression and confidence, and made a change in his diet in the offseason to being gluten-free.
The result has been one of the greatest years in the history of tennis, which Djokovic made even greater Monday.
Djokovic battled back problems but used his superior return game, defense and speed to play with confidence to defeat the 10-time Grand Slam champion Nadal, 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1, to win his first career US Open crown and fourth Grand Slam title in a match featuring spectacular shot-making and many unbelievable rallies. With the win, he pushed his record on the year to an amazing 64-2 and 6-0 over Nadal. He also had a 43-match win streak stemming from last year's Davis Cup final until his loss to Federer in this year in the French Open semifinals.
With the win he also became just the sixth man in the Open Era to win three Grand Slam titles in the same year, after winning both the Australian Open and Wimbledon (over Nadal) earlier this season.
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