2020 French Open Final Open Thread: Novak Djokovic v Rafael Nadal
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The greatest rivalry in men’s tennis resumes Sunday for the conclusion of the 2020 French Open. Rafael Nadal will looking to win a 13th French Open title and match Roger Federer with 20 career Grand Slam titles.
Novak Djokovic will seek a second title at Roland Garros and with it an historic second Career Slam.
The two haven’t played in Paris in over six years when Djokovic routed Nadal in the 2014 quarterfinals. But Nadal leads 17-7 on the clay against his rival and is 6-1 at the French Open.
Who will make history?
ITF TOURNAMENT NOTES
*Nadal is bidding to win his 20th Grand Slam title and equal Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20 Grand Slam men’s singles titles. Since Federer won his first Grand Slam title at 2003 Wimbledon, he has always been ahead of Nadal in terms of most Grand Slam titles won. Djokovic is bidding to win his 18th Grand Slam title and close the gap on Federer and Nadal at the top of the list.
* Djokovic is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era – and only the 3rd man in history – to win each of the 4 Grand Slam titles twice. Roy Emerson and Rod Laver are the only players to have won each Grand Slam on 2 or more occasions. (NB While Laver completed the feat in 1969, some of the titles were won before the start of the Open Era)
* Nadal is bidding to record his 100th match-win at Roland Garros today. He would become just the 5th player, and 2nd man, to record 100 match-wins at a Grand Slam event – after Evert (101-12 at the US Open), Federer (102-15 at the Australian Open, 101-13 at Wimbledon), Navratilova (120-14 at Wimbledon) and Serena Williams (106-14 at the US Open).
* Djokovic is bidding to record his 75th Roland Garros match-win. By recording his 71st victory here in the 3rd round this year, he claimed sole ownership of 2nd place on the list for most Roland Garros men’s singles match-wins, ahead of Federer.
* This is the 49th meeting between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in a Grand Slam men’s singles final in the Open Era – and the 10th at Roland Garros. Of the 48 previous Grand Slam finals between the Top 2 seeds in the Open Era, the No. 1 seed has won 25 times and the No. 2 seed has won 23 times.
* This is the first meeting between the top 2 seeds in a Roland Garros men’s singles final since 2016, when No. 1 Djokovic defeated No. 2 Murray, and the first meeting between the top 2 seeds in a Grand Slam men’s singles final since 2019 Wimbledon, when No. 1 Djokovic defeated No. 2 Federer.
Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 29-26
This is Djokovic and Nadal’s 56th Tour-level meeting. They hold the record for most Tour-level match-ups in the Open Era. This is the pair’s 16th Grand Slam meeting. They are in 2nd place on the list for most Grand Slam match-ups in the Open Era, behind Djokovic and Federer.
Djokovic and Nadal are contesting their 9th Grand Slam final – equalling the record for most Grand Slam men’s singles finals contested in the Open Era, held by Federer and Nadal.
This is the pair’s 25th meeting on clay. Nadal has won the pair’s last 3 clay court meetings, with Djokovic’s last clay court victory over Nadal coming in the quarterfinals at 2016 Rome-1000. Nadal leads their head-to-head on clay 17-7. By comparison, Djokovic leads the head-to-head on hard court 20-7 and they are tied 2-2 on grass.
SUNDAY FRENCH OPEN SCHEDULE
** Court Philippe CHATRIER ** Début à 11h30
1 DD F Alexa GUARACHI (CHI)/Desirae KRAWCZYK (USA) [14] contre Timea BABOS (HUN)/Kristina MLADENOVIC (FRA)[2]
Pas avant 15h00
2 SM F Novak DJOKOVIC (SRB) [1] contre Rafael NADAL (ESP) [2]
WUNDERGROUND.COM SUNDAY FORECAST
Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Cool. High 59F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
BET-AT-HOME ODDS
Novak Djokovic 2.18 v Rafael Nadal 1.69
US TV SCHEDULE
NBC will have live coverage of the men’s final at 9am ET.
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