Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
What happened, according to commentator John McEnroe, who won the same tournament four times himself, was the third set. Djokovic had outplayed Nadal in the second set and was outplaying him in the third set, breaking Nadal’s serve in the first game and a few games later having him on the ropes at love-40. But somehow Nadal won that game. Then he broke Djokovic. Then he broke him again. Djokovic lost a set he thought he’d won, and he was finished.
In the second set, with Nadal down 30-40 on his serve, he and Djokovic played a 54-stroke point. The fans were beside themselves. I was beside myself. The rally ended when Nadal dumped the ball into the net, losing the point, losing his serve, and, as it turned out, because of that break losing the set.
Sometimes an athlete’s most impressive move is a shrug.
