Nadal downs Djokovic to win Pacific Life

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – By Rafael Nadal’s standards, it was a long dry spell.

Nadal captured his first title since the French Open, beating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 Sunday in the Pacific Life Open.

“It was a very great week for me, a very, very important week,” he said. “I have (gone) eight months without any title, but I came back with a big one.”

When Djokovic’s forehand sailed long on the final point, Nadal raised his arms, then flopped on his back and lay there a moment, arms still extended, as the fans laughed and cheered.

A five-time champion last year and an 11-time winner in 2005, Nadal had gone a stretch of 12 tournaments without winning, dating to his successful defense of the title at Roland Garros last June.

He said that, even though he hadn’t won for a while, his game remained essentially the same.

“Sometimes you’re a little luckier, a little bit more confident,” Nadal said. “But well, I wasn’t a disaster in those eight months.”

Nadal has been ranked No. 2 for a record 86 consecutive weeks, with Roger Federer a distant No. 1. The three-time defending champion at Indian Wells, Federer lost his first match in the event this year, ending his 41-match win string.

Asked earlier in the week if he was disappointed he wouldn’t get to face Federer in the final, Nadal said, “No, no, no. Seriously, no.”

After his victory over Djokovic, Nadal said he doesn’t really consider himself vying with Federer for the top spot now.

“Right now, Roger’s not my competition. Roger is the best in history, so my goal is continuing winning tournaments and continuing being (high) in the ranking,” Nadal said.

“I think if I play like this, I can win another major.”

“He started playing really well. I didn’t. I made a lot of mistakes, unforced errors. He played an incredible forehand and he was in control of the match in the first set,” Djokovic said.