Ah, time zone differences.  The continuation of the men’s final was scheduled at 1 PM in Paris.  This would be 7 AM in the east coast, but somehow I forgot I was in Central time (being at an ET clinic) which pushed the time to 6 AM.  By the time I start searching for the program at 7 AM Central, and realizing it’s not on local NBC, but is on a NBC Sports channel of some sorts, Novak Djokovic is in dire straits.

He’s down 30-40, 5-6 trying to push the match into a tiebreak.

When the match concluded last night, Djokovic was on a tear.  He would have likely won had the match not been called due to rain.  The muddy clay conditions were wreaking havoc with his game, but allowed Djokovic to be very patient.  From 2-0 down in the third set, Djokovic ran off 8 consecutive games, before Rafa won one more game to leave the match at 2-1 in the fourth set and the match to be concluded the next day.

Rafa promptly opened the match with a break.   Both men held serve until 6-5 when Rafa got to break point, 30-40, and under a rowdy crowd waiting with vocal anticipation of  championship point, Djokovic played a big serve out wide.

Fault!

The ball landed a bit wide and long.  Djokovic got ready for the second serve.  This time, he took the safer round and aimed it into the middle of the court right on the service line.

Fault!

And with that double fault, Djokovic hung his head low, the match which, for so long, seemed like a forgone conclusion, a relentless march towards a record-breaking 7th title suddenly went in Djokovic’s way as he seemed unstoppable while Rafa was self-destructing mad at the court conditions as if it was an affront by some rain god.  Rafa seems to like his clay just so.  His game is so attuned to red clay.  He’s been historically upset about the blue clay at Madrid.  It was tough enough playing at altitude, but the blue clay acted funny, not to his liking.  And while hardly anyone or anything bothers Rafa, against a superior opponent like Djokovic, weather might have been that difference maker.  Who would have thought a slower court would work to Djokovic’s advantage?

And so Rafa wins his 7th title, a record in the modern era.  Now Rafa chases Max Decugis who won 8 French titles.  Of course, things were different in 1903, over a century ago, when transportation across the world was an ordeal requiring ships to traverse the oceans.  The French championships were restricted to the French and even that to those belong to a particular club.  It was basically a country club championship.

Rafa attributed his win to the better conditions where he could play more aggressively.  With the rain, Rafa admitted that Djokovic was more aggressive and that he couldn’t pressure Djokovic.  There was a brief rain at 5-4, and Nadal was worried the same thing might happen again, but it was not to be, and Nadal was able to lift the Cup of the Musketeers to a record setting 7th title.

Rafa gets very little rest.  By tomorrow, he should have flown out to Halle, Germany and getting rapidly adjusted to the grass as he has every year.  Normally, he plays Queen’s instead of Halle, but Rafa has complained about the tax rules in Britain which take a bite out of other earnings rather than those purely restricted to tournament winnings.  In any case, Halle is celebrating an anniversary and apparently was willing to open the purse strings and offer a guarantee to attract players like Federer and Nadal.

It’s the relentless cycle of tennis with a tournament nearly every week of the year.  Rafa will attempt the French-Wimbledon double, long considered the toughest double Slam win, one that Borg accomplished 3 times in a row and one that Rafa has done twice (2008 and 2010) and Federer once (2009).  Rafa can tie that with Borg.

Rafa has to be wondering what would have happened had Djokovic not lifted his game in 2011.  He could easily have held another 3 Slams by now, and his total would be 14 within spitting distance of Federer.  He’s at 11 right now, but short of major injury or someone amazing coming out of nowhere or Roger Federer reducing his error count to nearly zero, or Novak Djokovic increasing his level once again, it seems unlikely that Rafa will not beat Roger’s record in 2-3 years.

When Sampras won his 14th title, he must have felt secure that the record would not be broken for some time.  Little did he know, as he retired, that Federer would begin his quest to break that record.   And little did Federer know that his record might be eclipsed by a player playing only 4 years or so after him within his own era.

So congratulations to Rafael Nadal for his 7th win, and on to grass we go!