Rafael Nadal wins record seventh French Open

Rafael Nadal has won his seventh French Open title after beating Novak Djokovic, Monday, in four sets — 6-4, 6-3, 2-6 and 7-5, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France.

The Spanish tennis champ has now passed Sweden’s Bjorn Borg as the all-time record-holder for French Open titles.

Nadal won his 11th overall Grand Slam title, tying him with Borg and Rod Laver on the all-time list.

The match ended on a Djokovic double-fault, a fittingly awkward ending to a match that had plenty of stops and starts, including a brief delay during the fourth set while a rain shower passed over the stadium.

Serbian tennis star Djokovic was trying to become the first man in 43 years to win four straight major titles. He came up short and joined Roger Federer, who twice came up one match short of four in a row — his quest also halted by Nadal at Roland Garros in 2006 and 2007.

“It was a very difficult match against the best player in the world,” Nadal said. “I lost three Grand Slam finals — Wimbledon, the U.S. Open last year, and the Australian Open this year. I’m very happy, very emotional.”

A match with so much of tennis history riding on it proved awkward and frustrating for both players.

Djokovic was throwing rackets around early in the match, then Nadal was complaining bitterly as the rain picked up late Sunday, the tennis balls became heavy and officials refused to stop the match.

Djokovic rolled through the third set as the rain turned the heavy red clay into more of a muddy paste. He had all the momentum when play was halted.

When they came back Monday under cloudy skies, the surface and the tennis balls had dried out and Nadal looked more like he usually does — sliding into his stops, spinning his shots, moving Djokovic around the court, always getting one more ball back.

“I’m not going back, saying it’s your fault and your fault because I lost,” Djokovic said. “It’s unfortunate because I was playing better, feeling better on the court in the third set yesterday. Today, he started strong, I started slower. I was a little bit unfortunate in that first game and things turned around.”

On the restart, Nadal broke serve right away to tie the set at 2-2 and the frustrated Djokovic was back — slamming himself in the head with his racket after missing an easy forehand that gave Nadal the break point.

It was one of 15 unforced errors in the set for Djokovic, who went back to trying to end points early and blunt the huge advantage Nadal has sliding around on clay. When the surface was muddy, the evening before in the third set, Djokovic only made eight unforced errors.

Play was nearly stopped with Nadal ahead 5-4 in the fourth set, but a rainshower passed and they went back out. Both men held serve and Djokovic needed to hold once more trailing 6-5. Nadal hit a big forehand winner to set up match point and Djokovic, who had saved four of those in a quarterfinal win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, had no more magic. He double-faulted and fell to 0-4 against Nadal at the French Open.