Nadal through to 99th career final at Qatar Open

Speaking after his destruction of Rafael Nadal at the Qatar Open on Saturday – with both players saying afterwards that the Serb played ideal tennis – the world number one said he “expected” to play at the same level at this year’s first Grand Slam.

Nadal went down to the ATP rankings leader in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 during the final of the Qatar Open on Sunday (AEDT).

Djokovic served for 5-1 with a serve-and-double-volley victor, and Nadal’s hold simply put off the inevitable, a 6-2 victory for Djokovic of extraordinary and relentless accuracy in 73 minutes, 30 winners to only 13 unforced errors. It was the 16th consecutive final for Djokovic who last lost a tournament in August a year ago. The week that I have before the Australian Open starts will actually be very useful also for me because I have played a lot, trained very hard, played a great five matches here.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball during a match against Andrey Kuznetsov of Russian Federation at Qatar Open tennis tournament Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Doha, Qatar. “So I think he would be traveling with me to Australia soon and maybe next time I may beat Novak with him (by my side)”.

Their most recent meeting at a Grand Slam was at the quarter-finals of the 2015 French Open – on Nadal’s favourite surface, clay, with eventual finalist Novak Djokovic going down to Stan Wawrinka and seeing his dreams of a calendar slam that year cut short by the Swiss. He converted his third break point in the opening game of the second set and secured another break to all but seal the match at 4-1.

Dedicating the falcon-shaped trophy to his grandfather, Djokovic said: “This trophy reminds me of someone who was very close to me, but who is no longer here”.

World No. 1 Djokovic progressed through to Saturday’s final after overcoming Tomas Berdych in a bruising encounter, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

“I’m going to try to manage the energy in the days to come and work on certain specific things, but I’m ready for the competition”.

And while his achievements in 2015 will take some topping, the manner of Djokovic’s latest success suggests he is in no mood to let his level drop this year. The championship point game for Djokovic, Nadal tamely pushed the serve back to the net to give the Serbian his 60th-career title. But it was a sad story for the Spaniard, who was playing in the 99th career final. Even before that match, Djokovic had won four straight. “I know that it can’t go forever, but I’m not thinking too much ahead of myself”.

“It was great to play the final here”.