Novak Djokovic surprised with Rafael Nadal's 'perfect' game at Roland Garros final: Watch

Sunday's French Open 2020 final was paradoxically both surprising and unsurprising at the same time. It was no surprise that Rafael Nadal claimed his fourth consecutive and 13th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros. However, the bullish way in which he achieved the same, certainly came as a surprise to most people and World No.1 Novak Djokovic was definitely one of them.

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Nadal French Open 2020 win: Novak Djokovic credits Rafa's perfect game

Even after a shockingly one-sided defeat to the King of Clay, Novak Djokovic remained level-headed as he went into his post-match press conference. Before the match had begun, the numbers were stacked overwhelmingly in favour of Rafa, whose record at the French Open was at 99-2. No one probably in the history of any sport has such a staggering record at one tournament as Rafa does at the French Open. The only thing going for Djokovic was the memory of his 2015 quarter-final victory over Rafa and his technically unbeaten streak in 2020.

Novak Djokovic looked out of sorts right from his semi-final match against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Despite having a match point in the third set, Djokovic failed to convert and had to take the match to the deciding set to even get into the finals. Once in the final, the World No.1 had no answers for Nadal. Similar to the 2019 ATP 1000 Masters final in Rome, Nadal bageled Djokovic in the first set. The only hint of a comeback came in the third set, but there was no stopping Nadal by then. He took the championship 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.

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In his speech, Djokovic did not resort to any excuses or diversions for the Nadal French Open 2020 win, simply saying that he had been outplayed by a far better player. “I was overplayed. I was beaten by a guy who was just perfect today. That's all there is to it. I will absolutely not find any other justification for this loss. He was just better” said Djokovic. 

Adding to his praise of the feat that Rafa has achieved, Djokovic said, “I felt well throughout the entire tournament. I thought I was in great form. Certainly, I could have played better, especially in the first two sets. But he did surprise me with the way he was playing, the quality of tennis he was producing, the level." 

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Nadal French Open 2020 win: Nadal vs Djokovic head to head

The Nadal vs Djokovic head to head stands at a close 29-27 in favour of Djokovic. Of these 56 meetings,16 have been at the Grand Slams. The pair first faced off at the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2006. Rafael Nadal won that match 6-4, 6-4 after Djokovic retired midway. In their last meeting at the ATP Cup this year, Djokovic defeated Rafa 6-2, 7-6⁴. The Nadal Grand Slams tally came to 20 on Sunday with the win in Paris. Compared to the Nadal Grand Slams tally, Djokovic's stands at 17.

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Image Credits: Roland Garros Twitter