Tennis fans who bought Sunday tickets for the Sony Ericsson Open got a dream final — No. 1 Rafael Nadal, looking for his first title in Miami, against No. 2 Novak Djokovic, the jocular Serb who is on a 25-match win streak.
Both players have dominated here over the past 10 days, holding 87 of 88 service games and dropping just one set in 10 combined matches. The last time the top two players met in a final in Key Biscayne was 1995, when No. 2 Andre Agassi defeated No. 1 Pete Sampras in a third-set tiebreaker.
Although Nadal is the top player in the world, and he made Roger Federer look ordinary in a much-hyped semifinal Friday night, Djokovic is the slight favorite. He is unbeaten this year and has won all three tournaments he entered — the Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells two weeks ago, when he beat Nadal in three sets in the final. Djokovic also won the Sony title in 2007.
"I don't feel that I can't lose on the court," said Djokovic when asked if he feels invincible. "What I feel is big confidence. What I feel is that I'm playing the best tennis of my life. This is as simple as that."
Mardy Fish, who lost to Djokovic 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals, simplified it.
"It's his playground right now," Fish said. "He's moving better than anyone right now on a hard court, no doubt about it. He's not losing games. He's crushing us. But he's got to lose some time — maybe.''
Djokovic's 23-0 start to the year is the best since 1986, when Ivan Lendl started the season 25-0.
Once known as much for his spot-on impersonations as his movement and blistering groundstrokes, Djokovic is no longer the court jester.
He's still funny in his free time, but when he's on the court, he's all business. Nadal is determined to play the Serb more aggressively than he did two weeks ago.
"He's playing fantastic, and I just can congratulate him about what he did the first three months of the season," Nadal said. "I felt I had a chance in Indian Wells. I lost a little bit [of] the focus and the rhythm on the second set, the intensity of the legs and the shots, so I started to play more defensive. Against a player like Novak, it's impossible to win the match playing like this. On Sunday, I have to play aggressive all the points.''
Asked for his favorite in the final, Federer gave Nadal a slight edge:
"I think it's pretty open because of how Rafa played [in the semifinal] and how he can play in finals. I think it would be nice for him to win here for the first time. He should have beaten me here six years ago, I was down two sets to love and a break, if I'm not mistaken. So he should have gotten that one, but I snuck that one out on him. Novak has been playing great this season, but I think Rafa is going to give Novak a run for [his] money, and I'm going to pick Rafa."
Djokovic insists he isn't letting the winning streak get to him.
"It's a mental game, and I'm just trying to take one match at a time and mentally be motivated to have even more success," he said. "I don't really think about how long this winning streak is going to go for, who I'm going to lose to. I'm just thinking about my next opponent."
Watch out Rafa.
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