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Rafael Nadal Beats Novak Djokovic for “Lucky 13th” Roland Garros Crown for 20th Major Title

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Rafael Nadal Beats Novak Djokovic for “Lucky 13th” Roland Garros Crown for 20th Major Title

(October 11, 2020) No. 2 Rafael Nadal dismissed No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday to win his record-extending 13th  French Open trophy giving him 20 major titles matching the all-time record of Roger Federer.

It’s Nadal’s 86th career tour title and 60th on clay.

The 34-year-old’s victory is his 100th match-win at Roland Garros. He is 100-2 in Paris.

For Djokovic, 33, this was his second loss of the 2020 year, the other coming when he was defaulted at the US Open for accidentally hitting a linesperson with a ball.

This marks the fourth time that the Spaniard has won the title without dropping a set.

“Very tough year, but winning here means everything to me,” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “It’s not the moment to thing about equaling Roger. For me today it’s just a RG victory. It means everything to me.”

“I want to send a message to everyone in the world. We are facing one of the worst moments ever… keep fighting. We will get through this,” said Nadal in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nadal expanded on this during his news conference: “Of course, is an important day for me, but I’m not stupid, no? Is still a very sad situation worldwide. If you ask me what’s my feeling, of course I am super happy. In the other hand, I am not that happy as usual because the situation is tough for most of the people around the world. We didn’t enjoy, as always, a full crowd, an amazing atmosphere. So, yeah, not because I won the tournament I change my thoughts, no? The situation still sad. We are lucky enough to be able to practice, to play our sport, to have a tour. We can’t thank enough to the ATP and to Roland Garros and to the US Open and to everybody who maked big efforts to organize events under these very difficult circumstances. But I don’t forget how tough is the situation in the world. I just really hope that the situation improves very soon.”

“I just didn’t find a solution,” Djokovic said to media. “Straight-sets victory [for Rafael Nadal], yeah, I mean, it’s Grand Slam final, but playing Rafa on clay, you play Rafa, who is playing the way he’s playing, I mean, it’s tough to get a set off him.”

“I don’t have much to say but that I was completely overplayed by Rafa, by better player on the court,” Djokovic said. “I mean, he was not missing at all and getting every ball back, just playing tactically great. I mean, I felt well throughout the entire tournament. I thought I was in a great form. Certainly I could have played better, especially in the first two sets. But, you know, just he did surprise me with the way he was playing, the quality of tennis he was producing, the level. I mean, he’s phenomenal. He played a perfect match, especially in the first two sets. Yeah, I mean, the third set I managed to come back. I kind of found my groove on the court. Then, yeah, couple of close games. Had my chance, didn’t use them. He closed out the match. That’s it. He was the far better player on the court today and absolutely deserved to win.”

“I played at an amazing level of tennis, no? For two sets and a half I played great,” Nadal said. “I can’t say another thing. Is impossible to have this score against him without playing great. Yeah, played a very good final. I played at my highest level when I needed to play at my highest level, so something I am very proud. The personal satisfaction is big because under the circumstances that we played this Roland Garros, even if I played an amazing match this afternoon, the conditions are a little bit not the conditions that I will choose, never, to play an event like this. I was able to adapt well. I was able to, as I say the first day, to be positive in every circumstances that I was facing during the whole event, trying to accept all the challenges in terms of sometimes the feeling on the ball haven’t been great because of the cold and everything. But I take it in a positive way, no? I just tried to work every day with the right determination, looking for my goals. Yeah, I think is one of the Roland Garros that have a better personal value for myself.”

“I would love to finish my career being the player with more Grand Slams,” Nadal said to media. “No doubt about that, no? But in the other hand I say, okay, I have to do my way. I did my way during all my career. Worked well. I’m not going to be thinking all the time Novak have this one, Roger is winning the other one. You can’t be always unhappy because your neighbor have a bigger house than you or a bigger boat or have a better phone. You have to live your personal life, no? Personally that’s the things that I did during all my career, just try to follow my road, try my best every single day. In terms of these records, of course that I care. I am a big fan of the history of sport in general. I respect a lot that. For me means a lot to share this number with Roger, no? But let’s see what’s going on when we finish our careers. We keep playing. I don’t know what can happen in the future. I am just excited and of course is something that means a lot to me. At the same time share this record between us, that we had an amazing rivalry for such a long time, is something in some way beautiful I really believe. Let’s see what is going on.”

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Nadal has not set his schedule for the rest of the year. He is unsure if he’ll play the ATP Finals.

“I even don’t know my calendar,” said the Spaniard. “I don’t know what I going to do after here. I can’t tell you if I going to keep playing or not keep playing for the next couple of months. I didn’t decide, so I am not sure if I am going to keep going on the normal calendar or if I stop playing until next year. Is something that I have to decide. So don’t make sense today to speak about the World Tour Finals because I really don’t know if I going to play it or not. Is just conversation I need to have with my family and team especially during the next couple of days. Need to calm down the situation and analyze the future, because we are facing a tough situation, as everybody knows. In terms of Australia, 14 days of quarantine before the tournament start. Is the moment to be smart and make the right decisions in every single moment. I am just doing my best to not make bad decisions. To make the right decisions, I need to think only about what I need to think. Now and before this match, I was thinking about Roland Garros. Doesn’t matter what’s going on later. Probably after tomorrow we going to start thinking about what’s the best possible calendar for me.”

 

2005 ?
2006 ?
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2008 ?
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2020 ?@RafaelNadal & @rolandgarros are inseparable ❤️pic.twitter.com/wSy9IfDW4M

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 11, 2020

 

Nadal in response to Federer’s post on social media:
“But thanks to Roger for the words, no? I think, as everybody know, we have a very, very good relationship. We respect each other a lot. At the same time in some way I think he’s happy when I’m winning and I’m happy when he’s doing the things well. In some way for me means a lot the positive relationship that we have together because we have been going through a great rivalry for a very, very long time. Yeah, just can say thanks to him.”

More to follow….

 

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