Novak Djokovic seeks perfect end at U.S. Open to near-perfect year

Reporting from New York -- This tennis season from Novak Djokovic has been practically perfect. He has won two major tournaments, Wimbledon and the Australian Open, of the three already completed.

The 24-year-old from Serbia has a 63-2 match record and became the first man in history to win five ATP Masters-1000 events, considered just a step below the four majors, in the same year.

One of his losses was to Andy Murray when Djokovic retired in the second set because of a sore shoulder at the last of his preparatory events before the U.S. Open. The other was to Roger Federer in the semifinals of the French Open.

And Monday the top-seeded Djokovic will aim for his first U.S. Open title and try to become the sixth man to win three of the four Grand Slam titles in the same year since tennis’ open era began in 1968. His opponent will be second-seeded Rafael Nadal, the defending champion.

A year ago the same players met for the championship here in a match that was to have been played Sunday and was delayed by rain and rescheduled for Monday.

Nadal won that match, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, and afterward Djokovic paid tribute to the Spaniard. “Rafa has the capabilities already now to become the best player ever,” Djokovic said a year ago. “I think he’s playing the best tennis I’ve ever seen him play on hard courts. He has improved his serve drastically. The speed, the accuracy, and, of course, his baseline game is as good as ever.”

It’s a different story this year.

Djokovic has won five straight matches against the 25-year-old Nadal, including the title match at Wimbledon and the finals of Masters Series events in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome. The 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 pounding Djokovic administered at Wimbledon caused Nadal to concede that after this season was over he needed to rethink his game if he was to challenge the Serb next year.

Nadal will be playing in his 14th major tournament final and he has won 10 of them. With No. 11 he would equal Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver for fourth place on the all-time list, behind Roy Emerson (12), Pete Sampras (14) and Federer (16).

This match against Djokovic, Nadal said, feels different from last year.

“The difference is this year I lost last five matches against him, five finals. That’s an advantage for him,” Nadal said. “He’s obviously the favorite for the final and I know I have to do something better than in the other matches to try and change the situation.”

Djokovic will be in his sixth major final. He has won three — Wimbledon and the Australian Open this year and the Australian in 2008. This will be his third U.S. Open final (he lost to Federer in 2007).

As for his chances against Nadal, Djokovic didn’t downplay them. “I know I have a game that is good enough to win against him,” Djokovic said. “I proved that this year [on] three different surfaces. So I believe I have a good chance.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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