Top 5 Indian Wells Finals, No. 2: Rafael Nadal d. Juan Martin del Potro, 2013

This week, we're counting down the Top 5 Indian Wells finals (look for the Top 5 Miami finals soon!)

• No. 5: Simona Halep d. Jelena Jankovic, 2015
• No. 4: Dominic Thiem d. Roger Federer, 2019
• No. 3: Novak Djokovic d. Rafael Nadal, 2011
• No. 2: Rafael Nadal d. Juan Martin del Potro, 2013
• No. 1: Serena Williams d. Steffi Graf, 1999

Last week, when Rafael Nadal reluctantly withdrew from Indian Wells, he tweeted, “Everyone knows how much I love this place and how much I love playing here.”

If there was a year that best exemplified what the tournament has meant to him, it was 2013. After spending 222 days away from the tour due to a knee injury, Nadal had returned the previous month for the South American clay-court swing. He won two titles in three events there, but moving to hard courts would be a different animal entirely. It had been unforgiving surfaces like the one in Indian Wells that had contributed the most to his knee troubles in the first place. Rafa had won this title twice before, but few thought he could go all the way this time, especially when the draw put Roger Federer in his quarter.

By the time he reached that quarterfinal, Nadal’s prospects didn’t look much brighter. He had nearly lost a set to Ryan Harrison in his opener, and nearly lost a match to Ernests Gulbis in the fourth round. But Rafa beat Federer in straight sets, then did the same to Tomas Berdych in two tight sets in the semis. The fact that Del Potro edged Djokovic 6-4 in the third in the other semifinal was also a promising development.

Or at least it seemed to be, until this final got underway. For the first half of it, Nadal was clearly the second-best player on the court. He spent much of his time scrambling back near the lines-people, and spinning around to try to be ready for Del Potro’s next bullet forehand. When Rafa did get a chance to attack, he pulled the trigger too early and made mistakes. Delpo went up a set and a break.

“I lost a little bit of my calm,” Nadal said. “I think I was wrong in strategy, something that for me is unusual. I can have mistakes with the shots, but how I manage the shots, normally I am right.”

When you have a comeback like I’m having, you remember all the low things, lower moments you had during the seven months, doubts and all these things. So winning a title like this is just something unbelievable for me. Very, very happy, and very emotional. Rafael Nadal

As he often did against Delpo, Nadal turned things around my lifting his forehand high to the Argentine’s backhand side, and then flattening it out into the open court. The combination tired Delpo out, and demoralized him. By the third set, Nadal had found his timing and tactics, and he was the one taking the ball from inside the baseline and sending Delpo hurtling across the baseline. After squandering triple match point on Del Potro’s serve at 5-3, Rafa held for the match at 5-4.

He celebrated this Masters 1000 win like it was a major. When Del Potro’s last forehand fell wide, Rafa fell flat on his back. After the handshake, he dropped to his knees and saluted the crowd. Then he ran into the arms of his coaching team on the sidelines. He even threw in a thank you to tournament owner Larry Ellison.

“When you have a comeback like I’m having, you remember all the low things, lower moments you had during the seven months, doubts and all these things. So winning a title like this is just something unbelievable for me. Very, very happy, and very emotional.”

Nadal was back, and back to stay. The emotions from this win launched him into one of his best seasons, one in which he won two Slams, Roland Garros and the US Open; two more Masters 1000s on North American hard courts, in Montreal and Cincinnati; and finished No. 1.

You can see why Rafa wanted to give Indian Wells a final salute. All we can hope is that the desire to say a real farewell brings him back in 2025.