Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic during their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, in Paris, France, Sunday, June 8, 2014. Nadal won the French Open for the ninth, defeating Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. AP PHOTO/MICHEL EULER
PARIS–Rafael Nadal won the French Open for the ninth time at Roland Garros on Sunday, defeating Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.
The top seed and defending champion from Spain became the first man to win five straight French Open titles and the victory brought him his 14th Grand Slam crown, equal second on the all-time list alongside Pete Sampras and three behind leader Roger Federer.
The loss meant that Djokovic failed in his bid to become the eighth man in history to win all four Grand Slam titles.
He had six Grand Slam wins to his credit coming into Roland Garros.
After the two men shared two brutally tough opening sets under a hot sun, Djokovic visibly wilted under Nadal’s weight of shot in the third before the Spaniard won in four, taking his match record at Roland Garros since his debut in 2005 to 66 wins against just the one loss.
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