Nadal nets ninth Roland Garros title
Monday, June 9, 2014 @ 1:01 PM
Spain's Rafael Nadal has been crowned King of the Roland Garros clay for ninth time after defeating Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 in three hours and 31 minutes.
Nadal is the first man ever to win five consecutive French Open titles and the first to net the same major title nine times. Today's victory takes his Grand Slam total to 14, just three short of Federer's 17, and means he holds onto his number one ranking.
Djokovic's hopes of winning the one Grand Slam title he lacks have now been ended three times in a row by the Spaniard. Today's match wasn't the classic battle between the world's top two players that fans saw last year, and struggling in the 27ºC heat on court today, the Serb served up a double fault to hand victory to Nadal on his first match point.
"In matches like this every moment is crucial. Playing against Novak is always a big challenge, I had lost against him the last four times," Nadal said on court. "I feel sorry for him today, he deserves to win this tournament."
"Congratulations to Rafa and his team, it is incredible to win this tournament nine times," Djokovic said. "It was an emotional day. I have tried with all my power, my strength, my capacities but Rafa was the strongest on court."
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