Rafael Nadal defeats Novak Djokovic for 9th French Open title

Add a ninth French Open victory to Rafael Nadal’s career after he beat Novak Djokovic on Sunday, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. This is Nadal’s fifth straight title at Roland Garros and improves to 66-1 all-time there. Djokovic is now 0-6 at the French Open against Nadal and will wait another year to complete his career Grand Slam.

Djokovic started the match quickly by taking the first game and went back-and-forth with Nadal until Djokovic won back-to-back games for a 5-3 lead on the first break of the day. Djokovic survived Nadal’s two break points in the next game and took the first set 6-3.

In the second set, Nadal had another chance at a break point and initially it looked as though he gained a 4-2 lead but the umpire ruled the ball out. Djokovic took the advantage on the deuce, but it didn’t last long. Nadal held strong and turned the game into another break point, this time converting it for the 4-2 set lead. But that two-game lead proved elusive to hold onto, as Djokovic brought the set to a 5-5 tie before Nadal took the next two games to even the match at one set apiece.

With the match nearly two hours and counting, Nadal started to play his best tennis of the day, opening with a 3-0 lead in the third set and extending his streak of points won to five straight. Though he dropped two games after that, Nadal emerged with a 6-2 set victory and 2-1 match lead.

With Djokovic visibly feeling sick and angry, Nadal split the first four games of the fourth set before taking a 4-2 lead and injuring his back during the seventh game. Though he labored with the injury for a little bit and dropped another game, Nadal settled in and took the last two points to win the final set 6-4 and the championship.

After 42 career head-to-head matches against Djokovic, Nadal holds a 23-19 edge.