Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal has won his 13th Grand Slam title with a victory in the US Open final showdown with world No.1 Novak Djokovic, whom he beat 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Monday.
According to The Washington Times, the second-seeded Nadal, who was home during the U.S. Open a year ago with a bad left knee and was sent packing in the first round of Wimbledon in June, collected 3.6 million dollars in prize money, including a one million-dollar bonus for results during the North American hard-court circuit.
The report said that both Nadal and Djokovic inspired standing ovations in the middle of games from a crowd in the Arthur Ashes Stadium that included the Queen of Spain, in a three-hour, 21-minute miniseries of cliffhangers and plot twists.
Stating that his win was a very emotional moment for him, Nadal said that only his team knows how much the win means to him, adding that no player brings his game to the limit like Djokovic.
Although disappointed at losing his chance to regain back his US Open crown, the Serb praised Nadal and said that his opponent was too good and definitely deserved to win the match and the trophy, adding that Nadal should be respected for what he has achieved given that he has won 13 Grand Slams at just 27.
According to the report, the match was the 37th between Nadal and Djokovic, the most between any two men in the Open era, of which Nadal has won 22, adding that it was also their third head-to-head U.S. Open final in the last four years.
The first man with at least one Grand Slam trophy in nine consecutive seasons, Nadal's total of 13 major championships ranks third in the history of men's tennis, behind only Roger Federer's 17 and Pete Sampras' 14, the report added.