Rafael Nadal has won a record seventh French Open title with victory over Novak Djokovic
History maker: Bjorn Borg won six French Open titles, including this one in 1981
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There could be few more ignominious or unfitting ends to a dream than the one which befell Novak Djokovic as he tried to kindle his hopes of winning an historic fourth consecutive Grand Slam.
The double fault he served when facing a first match point in the French Open final was a horrible full stop, the last way you would think such a great competitor would cede what may prove a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
After a span of nearly 24 hours, he handed a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory to a tearful Rafael Nadal and, with it, a record seventh Roland Garros title at 26, overtaking the total of Bjorn Borg.
Nadal’s thirst is unquenchable and the scaling of the stands to celebrate with his support group suggested it means as much as it ever did. The question is whether he can go on to double figures.
Nadal remains the great unshiftable on clay and it must be unlikely Djokovic, having looked surprisingly vulnerable at times in this match, will ever get so close again to emulating Rod Laver and Don Budge in holding all four Grand Slams.
The 25-year-old Serb will doubtless reflect on this in the coming days of rest before travelling to Wimbledon to prepare for the defence of his 2011 title. He will arrive still as world No 1 but, having lost six matches already this season, five more than was the case a year ago, he will not be the heavy favourite he would have been in the event of an extraordinary comeback here.
Djokovic’s tendency to serve double faults — he lost the Rome final with one and threw in several crucial ones here — hints that he does not feel as indestructible as last year.
Yet Nadal admitted he was also apprehensive: ‘I was very nervous last night and I didn’t really feel ready to play until about three minutes before going out,’ he said.
‘But I was much more aggressive today. When we went off last night the conditions were very unusual and I felt they were more favourable for him. I wasn’t able to push him back.’
Djokovic was attempting the near impossible here, to recover from two sets down against Nadal and, when he conceded his 2-1 advantage immediately on resumption, it looked a mountainous task.
In these troubled times for his country, Nadal stands out as a beacon of pride alongside Spain’s footballers, and he must now be considered the man most likely to emerge victorious three weeks on Sunday from the men’s final on Centre Court.
Djokovic, who had beaten Nadal in the last three major finals, is no longer quite the haunting presence in his mind that appeared the case at the Australian Open. As for other rivals, such as Roger Federer and Andy Murray, they are firmly in a bracket below what has now become the Big Two.
The Serb put forward the uncontroversial view that Nadal is the greatest player ever on clay but did not feel sorry for himself.
‘Unfortunately the rain came last night when I was feeling really good but then the delay before that helped me more than him.
‘He was the better player. I’m disappointed that I’ve lost the chance to make history,’ said Djokovic, who denied the significance of the whole tournament affected him. ‘It really didn’t, I was excited about the opportunity, no more than that.’
The first game was always likely to be massive and he may have realised it was not going to be his day when, on break point, Nadal got a flukey net cord that led to an easy winner.
In the pure mental battle that the fifth set would have become you might have backed Djokovic, but he was not to force a dramatic decider in the 49 minutes of yesterday’s denouement, which also suffered another brief rain delay.
Unsurprisingly, he could never quite reproduce the death-or-glory hitting that had seen him rout Nadal in the third set under relatively little pressure before Sunday’s final downpour arrived.
The steadfastness he had shown in saving four match points in the quarter-final deserted him when Nadal bore down to create the first of this match. An idiot from the crowd shouted out just before the first serve then down came the double.
To his credit, Djokovic did not use that as an excuse for handing Nadal the title. It was a shame Borg could not have cleared his diary to honour the champion — plenty of other people did.
By MIKE DICKSON
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