Nadal Wins Stella Artois

How does he do it?...How does Rafa do it?!  He was able to dominate Novak Djokovic again, this time on grass, and this time for the Stella Artois Championship; a major statement for the Spaniard leading up to Wimbledon, maybe he can beat Roger Federer on grass?!

Singles – Final
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [2] N Djokovic (SRB) 76(6) 75
Doubles – Final
[2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d [5] M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 64 76(3) 

 SINGLES FINAL – NADAL CLINCHES HISTORIC TITLE AT QUEEN’S CLUB

• Top-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal clinched his first career ATP grass-court title after defeating second seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-6(6), 7-5 in a memorable final at The Artois Championships on Sunday. Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester presented Nadal with his fifth trophy of the year.
• World No. 2 Nadal is the first player to win Roland Garros and The Queen’s Club in the same year since Romanian Ilie Nastase captured both titles in 1973 - winning Roland Garros and the London Grass Court Championships.
• The 22-year-old is also the first player to win at Roland Garros and a grass-court title the same year since Sweden’s Bjorn Borg in 1980.
• Nadal is the first Spanish winner of a grass-court title since Andres Gimeno at Eastbourne in June 1972. Gimeno was also the last Spanish winner of the tournament, formerly known as The London Grass Court Championships in 1960. The event began in 1890 at The Queen’s Club.
• He is the first left-handed champion at The Artois Championships since Australian Scott Draper in 1998 (d. Laurence Tieleman). Nadal has a 24-7 career mark on grass-courts
• World No. 3 Djokovic started the first set in confident fashion and converted his fourth break point opportunity in the second game to move into a 3-0 lead. He held one break point in the fourth game, but Nadal recovered and ensured the set would be decided upon a tie-break.
• In a tense tie-break Djokovic moved into a 3-1 lead and served for the opening set at 6-5. However, the 21-year-old Serbian fell behind the baseline during a long rally, which gifted Nadal an easy forehand winner. Nadal clinched the 75-minute first set by winning 50 points to 49 points for Djokovic.
• Buoyed with confidence, Nadal took a 2-0 lead in the second set but Djokovic responded immediately with a break of his own. Nadal then paid the price for failing to convert two break point opportunities in the eighth game as Djokovic broke to love for a 5-4 lead. Again, the Spaniard fought back by sealing his third break point chance for 5-5.
• Nadal won his first match point and fell to his knees in celebration. The final of the 30^th edition of The Artois Championships lasted two hours and 16 minutes.
• It was the pair’s fourth meeting in 2008 and 12th overall. Nadal, who now holds a 9-3 lead, also beat Djokovic at ATP Masters Series Hamburg and Roland Garros in recent weeks.
• It was the first final between the top two seeds at The Queen’s Club since 2002 when Australian Lleyton Hewitt defeated No. 2 Henman.
• Nadal was appearing in his seventh final of the year (5-2). He has an ATP-best 49-7 record on the season and has now won at least five ATP titles for four years running.
• In 2008, Nadal had previously won four clay-court titles at ATP Masters Series Monte-Carlo (d. Federer), Barcelona (d. Ferrer), ATP Masters Series Hamburg (d. Federer) and Roland Garros (d. Federer), where he became the first player since Borg from 1978-81 to win four straight titles in Paris.
• Djokovic drops to 3-1 in ATP finals this year. He was trying to become the first player this year to win ATP titles on three different surface, have lifted trophies at the Australian Open (d. Tsonga) and at ATP Masters Series events in Indian Wells (d. Fish) and Rome (d. Wawrinka).  
• He drops to 37-8 on the season and 16-6 lifetime on grass-courts.
• Nadal received a cheque for €84,500 and 225 South African Airways ATP Ranking points, while Djokovic collected €49,750 and 155 points.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Nadal: “The tournament here was very, very tough. I [couldn’t] imagine I [would] be here winning the title before the tournament. You know, when you are tired coming here, sometimes it's tough mentally to be a hundred percent. I am playing very well, no, for I beat [Ivo] Karlovic, [Andy] Roddick, especially Djokovic today.  If I'm not playing very well, is impossible, no?  

“The important thing is the title here. Later probably that's give me more confidence.  But I have the confidence. I give my confidence, full confidence, in Roland Garros, too. The last few years I [have] played quarterfinals here, and I went to Wimbledon and I played very well.  And this year I won. And you never know what's going on in Wimbledon.”              

Djokovic: “This is not the first time I have [had] a lot of chances against him. But, you know, again, he managed to come through. Partly was my fault and partly was luck as well. You got to have a little bit of luck. I didn't go for the shots in 5‑4 second set. And even in the set point, in tiebreaker, I was bit defending too much. This is wrong tactic against him. I should have been a little bit more aggressive and maybe I would get positive outcome. But it was a great achievement, so I'm happy in general.

“It makes a difference being a Grand Slam champion at any tournament, not just Wimbledon.  You have a lot of confidence. You approach every tournament in a different way, with more belief. In my case, I'm happy that I can play a great tennis on all kinds of surfaces, which makes me an all‑around player, which is very important in today's tennis.”