Novak Djokovic Destroys Rafael Nadal In French Open Quarters

Finally, someone has dethroned Rafael Nadal as Novak Djokovic destroyed him in the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Novak Djokovic Destroys Rafael Nadal

The big question in 2015’s French Open is could Rafael Nadal be crowned champion for the sixth consecutive year? Only two other players have ever won five consecutive Grand Slams — Roger Federer and Björn Borg both won five straight at Wimbledon — but Nadal was attempting to eclipse them with a sixth.

Still, when the seedings came out, everyone knew that Nadal was going to have a difficult journey with a possible quarterfinal match against the number one in the world, Novak Djokovic.

At the same time, Djokovic has really struggled at the French, which is the only Grand Slam he has yet to win. In fact, he has lost three straight times to Nadal in Roland Garros – with two of those losses (2012, 2014) being for the championship.

Needless to say, today was a huge hurdle for the number one in the world, as he became on the second player in French Open history to defeat Nadal — the first was Robin Söderling, who upset the defending champ in 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foe0aWZMOKo

And while the match started out dramatic — Djokovic went up 4-0 before Nadal battled back to make it 4-4 — Novak remained calm and showed why he was the clear favorite. Soon, the Serbian tightened up his service game and just downright dominated Nadal’s serve by winning 49 percent of his returns, breaking him late in both the first and second sets. It did not help that Nadal’s service game was abysmal today, as he only won 59 percent of his first serves and a horrendous 38 percent of his second.

After the close two sets, the match was pretty much over, as Novak jumped to a quick 4-0 lead in the third. Still, the crowd was behind their champion, attempting to give him some motivation for a signature comeback. But after all was said and done, Nadal double faulted on match point, effectively ending his chance to become the first tennis player to win six consecutive Grand Slams.

The final score was 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.

Next, Nadal, like Federer, needs to go back to the drawing board before Wimbledon. As for Djokovic, he takes on the winner of the Andy Murray and David Ferrer match – hopefully it is the former, so the world can see a rematch of the Australian Open final.

Article by Anthony Falco