PARIS —
Rain or shine, clay or mud, Sunday or Monday, Rafael Nadal rules Roland Garros.
The man they call “Rafa” won his record seventh French Open title Monday, returning a day after getting rained out to put the finishing touches on a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic. He denied Djokovic in his own run at history — the quest for the “Novak Slam.”
The match ended on a Djokovic double-fault, a fittingly awkward conclusion to a final that had plenty of stops and starts, including a brief delay during the fourth set Monday while — what else? — a rain shower passed over the stadium.
They waited it out and Nadal wound up as he has for seven of the past eight years: Down on the ground, celebrating a title at a place that feels like home. He broke the record he shared with Bjorn Borg…
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