Nadal in seventh heaven

Rafael Nadal cut an emotional figure after winning the French Open
12 June 2012

Rafael Nadal wrote his name in the history books with an emotional French Open triumph over Novak Djokovic.

The Spaniard's 6-4 6-3 2-6 7-5 victory took him past Bjorn Borg as the first man to win seven French Open titles. Nadal's win also meant Djokovic was denied a historic fourth slam title in a row after wins over his rival in London, New York and Australia, leaving Don Budge and Rod Laver as the only men to have accomplished the feat.

The 26-year-old Nadal said: "For me it's a really emotional day to win another time here. Sure the seventh is important because I am the player who has more today, but that's after, the most important thing is to win Roland Garros, whether it's the first, second, third or seventh. That's what makes me very happy."

He went on: "I'm very happy with the way I played today, I was much more aggressive."

The Spaniard's victory was completed on Monday after being rained off on Sunday evening when Nadal left the court very angry that they had continued to play while rain fell.

He said: "It was very hard for me since yesterday. I've been playing this match since Friday afternoon, it's a long time preparing, and then yesterday with all the stops.

"I really felt nervous. My feeling was I wasn't ready for the match until three minutes before. That was the first moment since we stopped yesterday that I really felt that I am here to play. I was more nervous than usual because of the situation.

"It was clearly a good thing for me to stop the match yesterday because of the conditions. The last couple of games, the conditions of the court was not the right ones to play the final of a grand slam. We had to stop.

"The ball was heavier than ever. In my opinion the conditions were much more favourable for Novak than for me. And I'm playing against the best player in the world."

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