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Rafael Nadal made tennis history with a show of force on Sunday. The 34-year-old Spaniard secured his thirteenth French Open title and gave world number one Novak Djokovic (33) no chance in the final. Nadal finished with the Serbian at 2:41 am with 6: 0.6: 2.75. In the list of the best of all time he tied with the male record Roger Federer (SUI) with now also 20 important victories.
For Nadal it was also the 100th victory in the 102nd Roland Garros match. He received a winner’s check of 1.6 million euros, which was reduced this year due to the Corona crisis. Djokovic is still number one in the ATP rankings, Nadal is still 725 points ahead of Dominic Thiem. Plus, it was Nadal’s 999th win on a tour single (with 201 losses).
But all these numbers games didn’t interest Nadal much that day. Not even that he is on par with Roger Federer now. “Winning here means everything to me. To be honest, I’m not thinking about winning the 20th major today or tying at Roger’s level. For me it’s just a Roland Garros victory today, this tournament means everything to me,” he explained . Nadal.
In the head-to-head with Djokovic, Nadal cut to 27:29. It was the ninth grand final of the two, Nadal has now won the fifth. Djokovic still has 17 major titles and a win at the French Open (2016). The Serbian is now in 27 Grand Slam finals (balance: 17:10), Nadal in 28 (20: 8).
From the start, Nadal showed his extraordinary class under a closed roof, especially on clay at the French Open, in his “living room” – the result of the first set says it all, even if it took 45 minutes for a 6-0 . Nadal started the first break ball at 1-0, hit another to 3-0 and then defended himself three times from Djokovic for the first rebreak in the fourth game. The fourth and fifth games in particular were very competitive. The Mallorcan took advantage of the ball from the first set to make it 6-0. One of the two had triumphed in 55 duels so far (Nadal 2019 in the final in Rome in 6: 0.4: 6.6: 1).
In the second round it continued in this way, with Nadal leading 4: 1 after 1:20 hours thanks to two breaks. A quarter of an hour later, the Spaniard, whose intensity remains unmatched on the pitch at 34, also had this phrase in his pocket. In the third set, Djokovic managed to bite into this match and free himself a bit from Nadal’s traps. A resurgence to 3: 3 sparked an outburst of excitement and the Djoker held to 5: 5. But then Nadal broke his opponent’s serve again and used the first match point. A grateful knee and a big smile after all the tension: Nadal had done it again.
For Djokovic, a near perfect series ended this year: The Australian Open winner reached the final match with a winning record of 37: 1. The only loss was due to disqualification in the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows. In addition to Melbourne 2020, Djokovic also won the titles in Dubai, Cincinnati and most recently Rome, despite the long hiatus in play due to the Corona crisis.
“Today you showed why you are the king of the arena. I had to feel it on my own skin,” Djokovic said sportily. Both the Serbian and the Spanish thanked the organizers that it was even possible to host this tournament in the midst of the Crown crisis.
Nadal even turned to the world population. “I want to send a message to everyone in the world: we are going through one of the most difficult times we can remember in the fight against this virus. Keep going, stay positive and for the best, we will defeat this virus.” For Roland Garros, the Mallorcan wished that he could return in May / June 2021 and that the Court Philippe Chatrier, which was now provided with a roof, could be played again in front of a crowd.
By the way, Nadal won the tournament without dropping a set, as did her female counterpart, 19-year-old Polish Iga Swiatek.
