Nadal Returns from Rain Delay to Capture French Open

Rafael Nadal waited an extra day, but still captured history when he defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6 and 7-5 in the men’s final of the French Open that was suspended by rain on Sunday.

The win by Nadal was his seventh at the French Open and broke the tie of six he shared with Bjorn Borg at the Tour’s only clay court major. When accepting his champion’s trophy, Nadal told the French audience that the French Open was his most favorite tournament in the world.

The win was Nadal’s 11^th in Grand Slams and moved him into a fourth place tie all time with Australian Rod Laver and Sweden’s Borg. He now only trails 3^rd place Roy Emerson, 2^nd place Pete Sampras and Roger Federer in first.

Nadal also ended the three consecutive Grand Slam title streak of Djokovic, denying the No. 1 player in the world a chance at becoming the first player since Rod Laver to have all four Grand Slam titles at once. In the previous three consecutive Grand Slam finals, Djokovic has defeated Nadal.

Nadal now has a career record in the French Open of 52-1. Nadal said after the match that it was very difficult to defeat the world’s No. 1 player. Djokovic said he was not disappointed as it was the best result he has ever experienced at Roland Garros and there were many more Grand Slams to come.

Djokovic was playing much better tennis than Nadal when the rains came on Sunday and was ready to play when the rains stopped before dusk on Sunday, but officials postponed the match until  Monday and Nadal started off much stronger than the Serbian and eventually won the title.