Paris: Rafael Nadal claimed his 13th French Open title and 20th Grand slam by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday (October 11). Nadal’s grand slam record now equals to Roger Federer’s. He also brought up his 100th victory in Roland Garros against just two defeats.
“Very tough year, but winning here means everything to me. It’s not the moment to think about equaling Roger. For me today it’s just an RG victory. It means everything to me,” said Nadal.
ATP players to have won 100 matches at a Grand Slam:
– Roger Federer (102-15 AO, 101-13 Wimbledon)
– Rafael Nadal (100-2 #RolandGarros) pic.twitter.com/TLjhoUF5ks— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 11, 2020
“For me today this is just a Roland-Garros victory. Roland-Garros means everything to me. I’ve spent the most important moments, or most of the most important moments in my tennis career [here], no doubt about that… For me just playing here is a true inspiration and the love story I have with this city and with this court is unforgettable.”
In the first Nadal took the lead by 6-0. It was not until an hour and 28 minutes in Djokovic registered his second game of the match before Nadal broke for 3-2 with a two-set lead in hand. The last set was a difficult game, until Nadal cleared his way to the title, by defeating Djokovic 7-5.
Djokovic, 33, who had won five Grand Slam finals in a row since losing to Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open, still leads Nadal 29-27 in career meetings but the scar of Sunday’s defeat will run deep.
The drop shots on the slow claycourts served Djokovic well in earlier rounds and he used plenty of them in his opening game on Sunday but Nadal ran most of them down, blunting the Serbian’s weapon and gameplan.
Djokovic struggled with his first serve and was unable to come up with a Plan B as Nadal continued to be the aggressor while making just two unforced errors in the opening set to hand his opponent a rare bagel in the opening set.
Nadal showed exemplary athleticism and court coverage to get his racket to Djokovic’s crunching groundstrokes as the bewildered Serbian watched on, fast running out of ideas on how to win important points.
In the second set there was no letup in intensity from Nadal, who continued to hit deep returns to keep his opponent pinned to the back of the baseline. Djokovic got on the board at the start of the second set after managing to save three break points but Nadal maintained his iron grip by breaking the Serbian’s next two service games to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
In a high-quality third set, Djokovic broke Nadal’s serve for the first time for 3-3 but dropped serve on a double fault in the 11th game before the left-hander went on to bag his 100th victory at Roland Garros with an ace.
“Today you showed why you are the king of clay. Today was a tough match, I was outplayed by a better player today,” said Djokovic after losing his third final to Nadal at Roland Garros. “He did surprise me with the way he was playing, the quality of tennis he was producing, the level. He’s phenomenal. He played a perfect match, especially in the first two sets.”
