Rafael Nadal made history once again in Roland Garros by defeating Novak Djaokovic in four sets in a rain-drenched final.
4-6,3-6,6-2,5-7
The final match was delayed then subsequently suspended due to the rain on Sunday night and was resumed on Monday afternoon in the hopes of avoiding further weather interruptions.
The match started out with Nadal completely dominating the current world number 1. Novak Djokovic which was reflective of both guys' tournament so far. Novak barely scraped through to the final by suffering scares in nearly all the rounds except for his semi-final against former world number one and tennis legend, Roger Federer.
Nadal on the other hand, made short work of all his opponents and thundering on to the final looking every bit like the guy who deserves to win.
After the first two sets, it looked like Nadal would just walk all over Nole but the rain started to come into play. The match was suspended momentarily but the officials didn't cover the court and left it way too damp when the game resumed. The balls were also soaked from having to be rolled on the damp clay. The surface became too slippery for Nadal who is a true clay-court player using it to slide around the court. Soon enough, Novak got himself a set beating NAdal 6-2 in the third to force a fourth set and was leading there too when the rain came in again. There was an absolute shift in momentum as the conditions proved to suit Novak more and left Nadal scampering and slipping all around the court.
When the match was resumed the next day, it was obvious that both players were anxious to get on with the game. Nadal seemed to have gotten his form back but the rain started coming in again. Nadal could then be heard telling the officials to cover the court and save the balls no doubt thinking about the previous night's troubles.
When the game resumed, fire was burning in both players eyes as Novak hung on for dear life and Nadal struggled to get it over with before conditions changed and went against him again.
In the end, Nadal was able to muscle his way past Novak to claim his seventh French Open title, one more than tennis legend Bjorn Borg to lay claim to the title "King of Clay". In a very emotional display, Rafa went up to his box and started hugging his entire family and received congratulations from his close friends and supporters including NBA star and fellow Spaniard, Pau Gasol.
Emotional scenes played out while Rafa was in tears in the stands and Novak was sitting despondent on his bench in the court waiting for the awarding ceremony.
Both players made most of their speech in French pleasing the local crowd in the arena. Nadal obliged and went ahead to bite the trophy in his signature style but not before the trophy bit back as he was hoisting it up. The trophy slipped momentarily hitting Rafa's face leving him with a red welt on the face
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova took the Ladies Singles title beating Errani in straight sets. The women's game has been in disarray after the retirement of Justine Henin and Kim Cljisters. The Williams sisters have also failed to return to form and the number one spot and the titles have been going around and passed on to several different players with no clear domination. Sharapova ends the chaos by taking the French title and stamping her authority once more in the Women's game.
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