There was a thought that maybe Nadal would discover something to beat Djokovic.  With Uncle Toni being the brain trust, he and Rafa would find a way.

Initially, the strategy seemed to be several fold.  Be more aggressive.  Change up the height and pace of the ball.  Use the slice backhand and hope that Djokovic could not come up with a way to handle this shot.

Nadal started off strong with an immediate break, 2-0.  However, Djokovic came storming back with a break of his own.  Indeed, he would win the next 6 games leaving Nadal flustered unsure what to do.

Nadal again struck with a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Djokovic came back again, especially with a marathon hold in a game that lasted nearly 20 minutes, and eventually broke to take the second set.  Rallies were long and intense.  Nadal was practically half-volleying shots off his shoestrings struggling to deal with the deep Djokovic return.

In the third set, Nadal upped the intensity.  Despite Djokovic breaking to take a 6-5 lead and have a chance to serve out for the match.  However, Rafa came storming back and got the break, then got a good lead in the tiebreak and took the tiebreak, 7 points to 3.

Djokovic held for his first opening serve.  Then, he called a trainer to work on his back and it seemed maybe Djokovic might have to retire or at least be slowed down by the injury.  Instead, Djokovic won 5 of the next 6 games, and he did it without being able to serve full-pace.  He just hit harder off the ground to compensate.  Nadal was broken twice.  It seemed he was unable to run down shots by the end of the fourth set and struggled with his movement.  The quality of the fourth set was much lower than the third set, but credit Djokovic for coming through.

Overall this was a brutal match with long, long rallies.  The first three sets were 3 and a half hours.  The quality of hitting seems above what Federer or Murray could produce.

Djokovic wins 3 of 4 Slams and should easily end the year at number 1.  He still has two losses on the year.  He will head back to Serbia to play Davis Cup against Argentina tomorrow.  Nadal heads to Spain for the Davis Cup tie against France.  Federer is heading to Australia for a Swiss tie.  Apparently, playing Davis Cup is part of the prerequisite of playing in the Olympics.