Very true general, and his return was short the whole match... Key service stat: Nadal's second serve won% was not so good, similar to what it has been this year only 50%, whereas for his career on clay it has been 56-57%. So he was there for the taking, but Djokovic simply played worse. Djokovic was only 36% on his second serve points won, while for his career on clay he has been 54%.
Nadal had 44 winners vs 38 UE's - that's an average of almost 10 UE's/set, which is rather high for him on clay. But he got more aggressive starting in the second set, and kept that aggression throughout the match, and in the 3rd set he played much cleaner with only 5 errors, which is about his usual when playing well.
Split out by set it was: Set 1- 5:8, 2- 18:13, 3- 11:5, 4- 10:12
Djokovic had 43 winners vs 49 UE's .
Split out by set it was: Set 1- 11:8, 2- 13:14, 3- 12:14, 4- 7:13
Except for the 3rd set, the errors made by both were nearly the same. In the 4th set, both players tired and weakened, but Djokovic weakened much more and his drop off in aggression was quite noticeable and reflected in his winner stat.
Yes, Nadal won, but there is still room for improvement for him.
Djokovic did not look healthy out there as the match went on. Maybe the heat had something to do with it, but it looked like he spit up/vomited a couple of times and some said he might have had a stomach flu/virus.
Respectfully,
masterclass