Novak Djokovic, despite enduring a pretty poor 2024 by his standards, will still come away from this year delighted.
After all, it marked the final notch in his truly unbelievable career, finally capturing that much-needed Olympic gold medal at the fifth time of asking.
In doing so, he had to overcome plenty of obstacles, including beating two Spanish powerhouses both old and young in the singles draw.
And whilst the latter was undoubtedly the more impressive feat given Carlos Alcaraz’s form over the summer beforehand, any win over Rafael Nadal is to be particularly cherished… especially at Philippe-Chatrier.
Novak Djokovic reflects on playing Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros
Speaking to Spanish outlet Pundo de Break, the world number three was unsurprisingly full of praise for his long-time rival.
After all, the two have shared the stage for two decades now, and completely reshaped tennis with their phenomenal respective talents.
There are few in history who even come close to what they and Roger Federer managed together, with each boasting their own respective strengths and weaknesses that made them so interchangeable at the top.
However, when asked about Nadal, Novak Djokovic could not speak without first mentioning Roland Garros and the incredible allure the Spaniard shares with the Parisian courts.
In fact, he almost lambasted the 38-year-old, claiming: ‘Nadal was unbeatable there for a long time, he lost only a few times at the Philippe-Chatrier. Every time you step on that court with him, he is the favourite. Even at the Olympics, he had injury problems, I was in better shape, but still, you know it is the highest mountain to climb.
‘He is the greatest, maybe the only reason why I don’t have more Roland Garros titles. Every win against him there is worth twice as much.’
Rafael Nadal’s record on clay is ridiculously good
With 14 Roland Garros titles, already that is a record that will likely never be beaten.
However, this barely scratches the surface of his clay-court mastery, which was not reserved for just Paris.
It is worth noting that he has lost just four times at the event though, with a 96.6% win rate.
He remains the only man to have won the three clay-court Masters 1000 event tournaments as well as Roland Garros in the same year (2010), appropriately dubbed the ‘Clay Slam’.
There was a period where Nadal actually did not lose a single semi-final on clay for 12 years, winning 52 times without response, and still holds the record for the longest single surface win streak in the Open Era. He won 81 consecutive matches on his favourite surface from 2005 to 2007.
It’s fair to say that Djokovic’s claim isn’t without backup…
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