roland garros king

after being sidelined for seven months, he fought his way back to the top of tennis echelon. now, he has capped off that return with another winning performance in court philippe chatrier against david ferrer. by winning his 8th roland garros title, he is the first player to win any of the four grand slams 8 times. he has won his 12th grand slam title, his 57th overall and his 7th of the year, reaching the finals of all 9 tournaments he has entered so far.

in the first two rounds, he was obviously feeling a lot pressure, surrendering the first set to daniel brands and martin klizan, respectively. against fabio fognini in the third round, he was out-winnered by the italian but stayed competitive enough (read: defensive) to win in it straight sets. he finallly got confident in the fourth round, defeating an in-form kei nishikori and then dismantling another in-form player in stanislas wawrinka in the quarters, both in straight sets. 

the match with novak djokovic in the semis was altogether a different story. nole had just beaten rafa in the monte carlo finals in april, which was djokovic's third claycourt final win over nadal. while rafa still has the overall edge in the head-to-head (20-15), nole holds an 8 to 5 winning edge over rafa starting in 2010. in that span, djokovic won 8 titles (including the aforementioned 3 titles on clay: madrid and rome in 2011 and monte carlo 2013), as well as 3 grand slam titles (wimbledon and US in 2011 and the epic australian open final in 2012). djokovic has become the only player that could stop rafa from another title in roland garros. nadal won the first set and was leading in the second when djokovic mounted a comeback to even the score at 1 set apiece. third set was a blowout for rafa and he carried that momentum to the fourth set, only to have his serve broken serving for the match at 6-5. djokovic consolidated the break by winning the fourth set tiebreaker handily. in the fifth set, rafa was down a break until getting the chance to even the score in the 8th game. the match went on serve, until rafa finally broke djokovic's serve to win the set and the match at 9-7. what a relief that was. my friday couldn't have been happier!

i was talking to zel before the match with djokovic and she was saying that the djokovic match would end with 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 scoreline. what a fearless forecast it was, as if saying that djokovic will implode and commit mistake after mistake. djokovic is as ambitious and competitive as rafa is. it would all depend on who can grab the opporunity and build on it. both are consistent, good returners, all-court players. they move very well around the court and both have the needed tennis smarts to win at big stages. rafa and nole do not have a weak shot to speak of and both have that needed spirit to compete in the highest level. plus, djokovic seemed to have found that additional mojo to physically compete for prolonged hours, hence the recent successes against rafa, murray, federer and other fit players. so i know that djokovic can beat rafa in roland garros... may tulog 'ika nga. but anyway, rafa won and his name will forever be etched in the record books. claycourt king, one of the very best the sport has ever seen and one very good ambassador for tennis and sports in general. on to wimbledon's grasscourt and the rest of the season. vamos rafa!