The King of Clay still occupies the throne.
Rafael Nadal conquered Novak Djokovic for the second Masters Series final in a row, taking out the ATP #1 75 63 today in Rome, Italy.
Nadal has lost an astonishing seven finals in a row to Djokovic but this year has regained his winning touch over the Serbian machine.
It was Nadal’s sixth Rome title.
Next on the King’s agenda will be to obtain his record-breaking seventh title at Roland Garros (Borg also has six wins in Paris). And Nadal will now certainly will be the clearcut favorite to do so.
Nadal seeks to break historic record next
Andrew Miller · May 21, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Nadal certainly poised for the win. That said, I prefer someone else wins Roland Garros. No offense to Nadal.
Scoop Malinowski · May 21, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Andrew, Agree, it’s getting a bit tiring to see Rafa win so much, though he certainly deserves to win again. But there’s always something special about seeing someone win a major event for the first time. Both Rafa and Djok are going to really hunger for this title, Rafa going for history (#7), Djok going for the career slam and his first French. Boy, this one is set up to really be an epic thriller. Much more is at stake now for the French Open than this year’s Australian, and we know how hard fought that one was in Feb.
mat4 · May 24, 2012 at 12:59 pm
That match was a no win for Novak. Had he won, Rafa would without any doubts land in his half at Roland Garros. So he had to lose but to keep it close – to still have some pressure on Rafa, and to show that he is in good shape.
Why do I think that Rafa would have land in his part of the draw? One just have to check the draw for the semi in the slams since 2008, to see that on hard courts, Federer was protected from Murray and Nadal from Djokovic; on clay, Djokovic was always on Rafa’s side (except in 2009, when Rafa and Novak played all the finals on clay before RG, and Roger was humiliated in the previous final). The draw at the slams always protects a Fedal final.
Mitch · May 24, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Interestingly enough, the ESPN report with the statistical analysis suggesting that Grand Slam draws over the last several years have been not random in different ways didn’t find anything unusual with the French Open.
Scoop Malinowski · May 24, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Conspiracy theories Mat4! Hey I wouldn’t rule it out. Always been a little curious about how draws could be worked, especially after Mahut and Isner drew each other the next year at Wimbledon.
Mitch · May 24, 2012 at 2:44 pm
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/6850893/espn-analysis-finds-top-seeds-tennis-us-open-had-easier-draw-statistically-likely
mat4 · May 24, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Let’s see: draw for the semi of the AO, Wimb and USO from 2008-2011: it is always Federer vs Djokovic. 12 times in a row. Odds: 1/65000.
At Roland Garros, where Andy Murray doesn’t count: semi is always Nadal-Djokovic, except in 2009. But let’s remember that the previous year, Roger was bageled in the final, and that year Rafa and Novak played the finals of MC, Rome and Madrid. So, for the only time Roger and Novak were on the same side of the draw. In 2011, Roger was protected in a way again: he avoided Rafa in the semi.
mat4 · May 24, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Another thing: I found it very strange that Nole broke two racquets and looked so nervous in the final in Rome. It simply doesn’t fit in his behaviour in the last year and a half.