Rafa Reigns Over Paris in French Open Finals Win Over Djokovic
Rafael Nadal once again prevailed on the clay courts of Roland Garros, defeating world number one-ranked Novak Djokovic in four sets, 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, in a two-day, rain-filled 2012 French Open Finals match. The match began Sunday in Paris, spanned over the course of two days with several weather-related stoppages before Nadal won the three hour, 50 minute match on Monday. With the win, Nadal improves his record at Roland Garros to 52-1, winning his seventh French Open title in the last eight years, and his only loss was in the 2009 semifinals to Robin Soderling.
”This tournament is, for me, the most special tournament of the world,” Nadal said.
Djokovic had four double-faults throughout the match, and slumped his head with results which he most definitely did not want. He wanted to become the first man since Rod Laver to win four straight major titles. Roger Federer did the same by coming short twice in the past.
"It was a very difficult match against the best player in the world," Nadal said. "I lost three Grand Slam finals—Wimbledon, the U.S. Open last year, and the Australian Open this year. I’m very happy, very emotional.”
Today’s win is Nadal’s 11th overall Grand Slam title, which ties him with Bjorn Borg and Laver among the all-time leaders.
"I’m not going back, saying it’s your fault and your fault because I lost," Djokovic said. "It’s unfortunate because I was playing better, feeling better on the court in the third set yesterday. Today, he started strong. I started slower. I was a little bit unfortunate in that first game and things turned around."
Since falling to Djokovic in the longest Grand Slam final clash in history at the Australian Open to lose his seventh consecutive title match to the Serbian, Nadal has won three straight meetings, all coming in clay-court finals. He beat Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Rome and Monte-Carlo. With today’s Roland Garros win, Nadal increases his FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series lead over Djokovic to a 19-14 mark.
