Nadal nets career Slam
<p>Rafael Nadal reacts after defeating Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, to win the U.S. Open on Monday in New York.</p>
NEW YORK (AP) - The list was long. Everyone, even Rafael Nadal himself, tried to explain why he kept leaving the U.S. Open without a trophy, why it was the only Grand Slam tournament he hadn't conquered.
His grinding style exhausts him. The wind plays havoc with his spin-lathered strokes. The courts are too hard and too fast. The balls are too soft. And so on.
Two marvelous, nearly perfect weeks - and one thrilling victory in a tight final - make that all sound rather silly.
Nadal won his first U.S. Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, beating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Monday in a match filled with fantastic shotmaking by both men and interrupted by a thunderstorm a day after it was postponed by rain.
It's Nadal's third consecutive major championship and ninth overall.
He is the seventh man in tennis history with at least one title from each Grand Slam tournament.
"He has the capabilities already now to become the best player ever," Djokovic said. "I think he's playing the best tennis that I've ever seen him play on hard courts. He has improved his serve drastically - the speed, the accuracy. And, of course, his baseline (game) is as good as ever."
Rain pushed the men's final from Sunday to Monday for the third consecutive year, and play was interrupted for nearly two hours during the second set. When they resumed, Djokovic took that set, the only one Nadal lost in the tournament.