Rafael Nadal has won the French open seven of the past eight years.
Posted on 06/11/2012 6:29:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rain or shine, clay or mud, Sunday or Monday, Rafael Nadal rules Roland Garros.
The man they call "Rafa" won his record seventh French Open title Monday, returning a day after getting rained out to put the finishing touches on a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic. He denied Djokovic in his own run at history — the quest for the "Novak Slam."
The match ended on Djokovic's double-fault, a fittingly awkward conclusion to a final that had plenty of stops and starts, including a brief delay during the fourth set Monday while — what else? — a rain shower passed over the stadium.
They waited it out and Nadal wound up as he has for seven of the past eight years: down on the ground, celebrating a title at a place that feels like home. He broke the record he shared with Bjorn Borg, improved to 52-1 at the French Open and beat the man who had defeated him in the last three Grand Slam finals.
"This tournament is, for me, the most special tournament of the world," Nadal said.
After serving his fourth double-fault of the match, the top-seeded Djokovic dropped his head and slumped his shoulders, an emotional two-day adventure complete, and not with the result he wanted.
He was trying to become the first man in 43 years to win four straight major titles. He came up short and joined Roger Federer, who twice came up one match short of four in a row — his pursuit also halted by Nadal at Roland Garros in 2006 and 2007.
Nadal won his 11th overall Grand Slam title, tying him with Borg and Rod Laver on the all-time list
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Rafael Nadal has won the French open seven of the past eight years.
Bjorn Borg who won 6 French Opens called Nadal “the best clay court player ever”. Congrats to Rafa for winning number 7.
I wonder why???
Nadal is a great player, no doubt. His on-court reputation is approaching McEnroe-ish!
The Guy’s a baby!
I think that if they had continued the match on Sunday, Novak could have taken Nadal. He was on a roll with those mudballs.
I thought NBC was going to aire the finish of the match this morning — but they didn’t. I’m not sure anybody aired it as it was over in Paris before anyone over here woke up. Anyway Nadal finished him off mercifully in short order. He owns that French clay.
It was aired on an NBC Sports channel, 600+ something on Directv. So glad my husband found it!
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