Rafael Nadal is the King of France

08 Jun, 2014

Clay court machine Rafa Nadal held off another challenge from great rival Novak Djokovic to claim a record extending ninth French Open title with a 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4 victory on Sunday.

The world number one from Spain became the first man to win five successive titles at Roland Garros to take his overall grand slam tally to 14 – three short of Roger Federer’s record.

Djokovic, who was looking to become the eighth man to complete a career grand slam, made a great start but appeared to suffer from the heat and humidity after losing the second set.

The 28-year-old Nadal, who has only lost one of his 67 matches on the Paris clay, fell on his knees when Djokovic double-faulted on the first match point.

“In matches like this every moment is crucial. Playing against Novak is always a big challenge, I had lost against him the last four times,” Nadal said on court.

“Sorry for him today, he deserves to win this tournament.”

It was Djokovic’s sixth attempt against Nadal in his spiritual home, and his sixth failure – the second in a final after the 2012 showdown.

Djokovic, one of three men to beat Nadal on clay this year, had also won four of the last eight matches he had played against the Spaniard on the slow surface.

None of them had occurred in a best-of-five match, though.

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