By Chris Oddo | Sunday, June 8, 2014
Rafael Nadal captured his ninth Roland Garros title with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Novak Djokovic in Paris on Sunday. Rapid Reaction here...
Photo Source: AP
Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4, for his record 9th Roland Garros title and his 14th career Grand Slam title on Sunday in Paris.
After dropping the first set the Spaniard rallied to break Djokovic in the 12th game of the second set to level the match, and he never looked back.
Nadal becomes the first player to ever win five consecutive Roland Garros titles and improves his career record to 66-1 at the event with the victory.
Djokovic fails in his bid for his first career Roland Garros title, and drops to 0-6 against Nadal at Roland Garros.
Here’s our rapid reaction, featuring the best of social media, from the match :
Set 1: Nadal chooses to receive and away we go…
Nole holds for 2-1. A relatively uneventful start, but Rafa is still lathered…
Lots of solid play and no break points under the perfect Paris skies, in the early going.
It’s a packed house as both players continue to battle for the upper hand in the first set…
Nadal gets to deuce on the Djokovic serve in game seven (first deuce of the match), but Djokovic wins the next two points to lead 4-3.
Djokovic earns three break points, and on the third Nadal misses an inside-out forehand just wide. The Serb draws first blood and will serve for the first set, leading 5-3.
Nadal has two break points in the ninth game, but the Spaniard misses two key forehands to allow Djokovic to get back to deuce. From there the Serb takes care of business. Finishes the set with a huge inside-out forehand that Rafa can’t handle and Djokovic is one set to the good. Here are some stats on first-set winners:
And here are the first set stats.
Set Two:
Nadal, who is bidding for his 35th consecutive win at Roland Garros, and his ninth career Roland Garros title, and his 14th career Grand Slam title—should I stop now?—holds for a 1-0 lead in set two.
BG thinks it’s all about the second set today, but those first set stats are pretty hard to deny.
Love this view!!!
Wow, crazy bit of info from NBC, who say that a Djokovic second serve on one of Nadal’s break points in the ninth game of the first set was out according to Hawk Eye. Might have changed the complexion of the first set, but too late to worry about it.
Moving on, Djokovic holds for 2-all in set two.
Mild controversy as Nadal appears to hit a backhand winner for his first break of the match but the ball is ruled out by umpire Pascal Maria. Was it in? Was it out? Hard to tell…
Nadal nabs the break anyway, for a 4-2 lead (and the Nadal camp is PUMPED).
Djokovic, intent on taking a two sets to love lead, breaks back immediately after a bad game by Nadal.
There’s good reason that Nadal is 65-1 at Roland Garros heading into this final. He’s simply the most dogged competitor that ever was. He lashes a forehand winner to break Djokovic for the set in the 12th game, and we have a brand new match.
Second set stats:
Set Three :
Mr. Roddick, from his couch, seems interested in the final...
The king of clay, who has an 88-1 record in best-of-five matches on clay, has taken the upper hand in this battle. He breaks for a 2-0 lead in the third set.
And the fearhand is looking rather dominant as Nadal consolidates for 3-0.
Nadal holds for 4-1, but it was a long game, and there are surely twists and turns to come, right? Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal thinks so...
With a crowd like this to see a Serb battle a Spaniard, imagine what it would be like if it was a French participant in the final.
Djokovic pushes Nadal in a long, grueling game (emotionally, in particular) but all he has to show is a racquet smash. He nets a makeable backhand and Nadal gets the hold for a 5-2 lead.
Nadal grabs the third set as Djokovic overcooks a backhand to hand him a second break, and most of the talk centers around Djokovic’s “regurgitation.”
Four:
He may be on the brink, but Novak Djokovic still very much in this match at 1-2, 30-all.
Not seeing enough positive body language from Djokovic, and Nadal holds easily to love for a 3-2 lead. So far, the cloud cover hasn’t given the Serb a big boost, but he’s still on serve…
All spring long, Nadal talked about getting his forehand drive cooking, and he’s done it at Roland Garros.
The task in front of Djokovic looms larger now, as the Serb drops serve when great D from Rafa forces him to yank a backhand wide. It’s 4-2 Nadal, and the Spaniard is two games away from his 9th Roland Garros title.
Nadal has won a large percentage of the long ones, but this one is not quite over as Djokovic breaks serve with an amazing crosscourt backhand return that Nadal steers wide. To make things more complicated it does appear that Nadal’s back got a bit tweaked earlier in the game as he went up for an overhead and came down struggling. Not sure if it will impact him going forward…
It is very, VERY tense at 4-all, 30-all in the fourth. No room for error, but some room to hit oneself in the head, Youzhny-style.
Yes, it’s absurd alright. Nadal survives another tough hold and Djokovic will h have to serve for dear live, at 4-5.
He’s done it! Despite the valiant effort to stay in it by Djokovic, the Serb double-faults on match point and Rafa comes through with the 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory for his 9th Roland Garros title and 14th Grand Slam title.