Nadal Destroys Djokovic To Break Borg's Roland Garros Record

Two-time reigning champion Rafael Nadal made Roland Garros history on Monday, defeating top-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in a rain-delayed final that spanned two days to capture his seventh title in Paris, breaking a tie with Bjorn Borg for the most trophies in tournament history.


"For me it is a real honour. Borg is one of the greatest in history, one of the more charismatic players in history," Nadal said in a post-match interview with John McEnroe. "The comparison with the great Bjorn is fantastic. He's always been very nice to me, so I have to say thanks."
With his 11th Grand Slam crown, Nadal moves into a third-place tie with Borg for the most major singles championships in the Open Era. He also becomes just the 10th player in Open Era history to win 50 titles on the ATP World Tour, with 36 of his successes occurring on clay.


Djokovic was bidding to join Rod Laver as the only men’s player to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time since 1969, having topped Nadal in the previous three major finals. He was aiming to become the first man since Jim Courier in 1992 to win back-to-back titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. The loss snapped his 27-match Grand Slam winning streak and he dropped to a 5-3 record in major finals. The World No. 1 had won two five-set thrillers during his run to the final, rallying from a two-sets-to-love deficit against Andreas Seppi in the round of 16, and edging Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a five-set quarter-final clash after saving four match points.


"I could easily have lost the match in fourth round or even more against Tsonga, but I managed to come to the final for the first time in my career. I should be happy about that," said Djokovic. "I thought we played a fantastic match where people hopefully enjoyed yesterday and today, and I was even surprised with the number of people who attended this match today. It was a working day, but it was still a full stadium. It's beautiful. These matches make you feel like all the work that you put into it is worth [it]."