Rafael Nadal’s historic French Open title is one of his greatest career achievements

Rafael Nadal’s 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 defeat of Novak Djokovic at the French Open gives him his 20th Grand Slam title. This match will go down as one of his greatest career achievements.

Rafael Nadal has long been lauded the King of Clay. The Spaniard has claimed 12 French Open titles in his career and a 99-2 record at the tournament overall. However, the events of today’s final couldn’t have been more unpredictable. You may ask why. His opponent, Novak Djokovic, was standing in his way.

Djokovic is, realistically, the only player in the world who could’ve beaten Nadal on his favorite court. While he trails 17-7 in head-to-head meetings on clay and 7-1 in Paris, Djokovic has won 14 of their last 18 meetings (dating back to 2013 Beijing) and held a 3-1 advantage in Grand Slams.

In addition, Djokovic’s incredible 37-1 record since the beginning of 2020 speaks volumes to the type of season he’s had so far. Nadal, on the other hand, had stumbled in this year’s French Open without a clay title to his name (something that hasn’t happened in the 12 years he’s won the title). A shocking loss to Diego Schwartzman in Rome only compounded the fears that he may not be in a position to win the title this year, especially considering both Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem stood waiting in his half, as well as Djokovic at the other end (the three players who have given him the most trouble on clay in recent memory).

Through six matches, Nadal proved doubters wrong by not dropping a set on his way to the final. With wins over mega-hot teen sensation, Jannik Sinner, and a revenge sweep of Diego Schwartzman the following round, Nadal breezed through to the final once again and faced off against the man he’s taken on 55 previous times in his career: Djokovic.

Djokovic hadn’t been perfect by any stretch of the matter leading up to the final. He dropped the opening set to Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals (the only man to hand him a loss in 2020) and almost blew a two sets to love lead over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semis. There wasn’t any doubt, though, that the blockbuster final between the world’s two best players would be just that: a blockbuster.

To the chagrin of many, it was the exact opposite. Nadal ripped through every facet of Djokovic’s game with efficiency and skill. he kept his groundstrokes deep and used his heavy topspin to kick the ball up towards Djokovic’s shoulders, forcing him on his back foot. The new balls didn’t matter and neither did the conditions. Nadal came to conquer.

A 6-0, 6-2 start for Nadal was by far the most one-sided first two sets of a Nadal-Djokovic match that we’ve ever seen. Only Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-2 start to the 2019 Australian Open even came relatively close to matching what Nadal produced this morning in Paris. Djokovic committed an ungodly 30 unforced errors across the first two sets, compared to just 6 for Nadal. The Serbian served 59.5% on his first serve and won just 41.5% of those points. The third set was certainly closer, as Djokovic finally broke Nadal for the first time before being broken back at 5-all. It was the nail in the coffin for the King of Clay. He wasn’t going to be stopped by anyone, eventually taking the match 6-0, 6-2, and 7-5 in the third.

Nadal’s title today not only extends his record-setting count at the event to 13, but it also keeps his undefeated streak alive in Roland Garros semis and finals (26-0). He, most importantly, ties Roger Federer for most all-time Grand Slam titles won with 20, which all but guarantees his GOAT status over the Maestro for the time being.

Heading into a tournament that Nadal wasn’t considered the heavy favorite to win only strengthened how monumental this achievement was for him. The knock on him over the last decade or so has been that he can’t beat Djokovic when it counts. This match proved the doubters wrong. Nadal took down his arch-rival on tennis’ biggest stage, pushing him into the top spot.

This loss for Djokovic will sting for a while. This looked to be his best shot at taking Nadal down on clay and would’ve given him the double Career Grand Slam. While he does still have a few years to accomplish that goal, there’s no telling how much stronger some of the other (younger) players could get over the next year while Djokovic gets one year closer to retirement. If Djokovic could’ve beaten Nadal today, it would’ve of, without a doubt, given him GOAT status, but nevertheless, the King of Clay reigns supreme once again.