Right well its time for my look at the men's final at the French Open which was between the world's No.1 and 2, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. So let's take a look and see how it went.....
THE FINAL RECAP
So the men's final this year had similarly to the ladies alot riding on it as both men were going for their first French Open title and Novak was looking to complete his career slam whereas Andy was looking to become the first British man to win the title since Fred Perry in 1935. The match promised a great deal on paper and given their epic five set battle last year, this one promised to be more of the same.
However....the match itself didn't quite go that way although it did see Andy make a concerted effort in the first set as he overpowered Novak with a startling display of aggression as the No.1 seed looked nervous and tight, which saw Andy break to take the 1st set. Andy at the start of the 2nd looked to push Novak again as he got a break point against the Serb but unfortunately for him he missed his chance and Novak went to hold serve. And from here Andy started to make a catalogue of errors which saw Novak seize control as he broke Andy twice to level the match at a set all and he went to take the match by the scruff of the neck as he broke Andy twice again in the 3rd set to take the 2 sets to one lead.
And from here Andy's spirit appeared to broken with it as he surrendered his serve tamely at the start of the 4th which saw Novak make his final charge toward the finish line and he took another break to go 5-2 up with that career slam finally now in sight. However Novak then got tight as he surrendered one of the breaks back to Andy who managed to hold serve to make the score 5-4 in Nole's favour. And as Novak looked to serve it out again he got tight as play went to duece as the game resembled Andy's final game at Wimbledon three years earlier in the final, however he managed to hold onto his nerve this time and sealed the win of his career and dropped to the dirt as he completed his career slam by winning his first French Open title with a remarkable 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
THOUGHTS
Well after winning this title there is no doubt that this victory puts Novak Djokovic right among the true greats in the game now as he is the only the 3rd man in the history of the game to hold all four grand slams at once as he joins Rod Laver and Don Budge in achieving this. And after Novak lost that first set there was an absolute inevitability that he would turn it around and he got an overwhelming amount of support from the crowd who played their part in the match so much that it felt like one giant Nole love-in! ;-) Novak also even after the match celebrated by drawing a large love heart on the clay just like Gustavo Kuerten did, the former champion, who was in attendance and agreed to let Novak do that if he won. And I must admit a small part of me was pleased to see Novak finally achieve his dream of winning the elusive major to complete his career slam as it is an absolutely remarkable achievement that he was able to pull it off.
And now that Novak has won the French, he can certainly go on and claim the calendar slam this season as he has already won Wimbledon and the US Open last year so there is nothing really to stop him from doing it this time around aswell. However to do the calendar slam that in itself is one of the toughest things to do in the sport as Serena Williams herself found out last year after she completed the Serena Slam similar to Novak and she lost out at the US Open so Novak could suffer a similar fate but there is every chance he might not but I guess we can wait and find out.
As for Andy...well it was bitterly disappointing for him to lose this tournament as it looked like he really had a chance of winning it especially after he got off to such a strong start in the match but unfortunately he just wasn't able to sustain it or keep a fiercely hungry and determined Novak at bay. Not only that Andy was also really up against a crowd who were so pro-Novak it was unreal although to be fair to Novak he has been the victim of not receiving as much love and support as he would have liked in the past especially when playing against Roger so I think its fair enough he got it in Paris.
And despite his loss, Andy should still be very proud of his achievements in Paris as he managed to succeed in reaching all four finals of the grand slams by getting to the final. Andy was also quite gracious in defeat to Novak in his speech as he congratulated him on his achievement and he endeared the crowd with his honesty as he admitted "it sucked to lose" the match although he was proud to be a part of it.
However the down side for Andy is that he is now up against a player who is ever improving his game and now that Novak has completed the career slam there is almost nothing to stop him from claiming the calendar slam. And despite Andy's best efforts so far he has failed to beat his old rival at a grand slam final for three years now as we all now his last victory over Novak was at the 2013 Wimbledon final.
And this also raises a potential concern for Andy that he may never win another grand slam again as his rivalry with Novak could well go the way that Roger Federer's did against Rafa Nadal as Roger only managed to beat Rafa twice in grand slams finals at Wimbledon in 2006 and 2007 but after that this he never managed to defeat him again so it could well be the same for Andy. And this could well be even the case at Wimbledon if Andy meets Novak in the final, despite Andy's game being perfectly suited to grass, Novak could if he falls behind in the match, weave his way into it and get into Andy's head, which might see him lose out again.
But I still believe that Andy's grand slam winning days aren't behind him just yet and I do think he does still have at least another major in him somewhere even if he doesn't win one this year I think he can still do it in the future. And come Wimbledon, Andy will have a chance for revenge against his old rival, depending on if the draw works out well for him and that he doesn't come up against an on fire Roger Federer again! Although given Roger's back injury it seems questionable if he can get that far although he is now back on the tour playing in Stuttgart on the grass courts this week.
Andy also has the Olympics games coming up this summer in Rio where he has a chance to defend his title there too and it could prove to be the last bastion of achievements for Novak to attain where he would have the chance to complete the golden career slam. And there is a chance that Andy could even deny Novak a chance to win the title there too as it must remain next to the calendar slam, the toughest thing to do in the sport to win all four majors and the Olympic gold medal too. However if there is one man that can do it, it is Novak.
Anyway so that's it for my coverage of the French open, which hasn't been the best tournament overall given that there were so many rain delays throughout the event it really put a dampener on things at times. However it was a great tournament for one Novak Djokovic and I'm sure its one that he will not forget in a hurry as its one that has seen him become one of the all time greats in the game.
So that's the clay court season over just like that and now it begs for the grass court season to kick off which it does this week in Nottingham and Stuttgart for the ladies and men respectively. And Andy will be defending his title at Queens club in London next week where he has already won the title four times, equalling the record by John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Lleyton Hewit, so he will look to break the record and win it for a 5th time. Although Andy has never won the title on the even years and always won it on the odd ones (i.e. 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) so let's see if he can break that mould this year to break the record.
So I will be back on here with maybe a review on the tennis from Queens club (maybe depending on how Andy does) and also do a Wimbledon preview where I will make my pick of the contenders for the title (and guess who will be the top of that list!) just before the tournament starts.
So until the next post its bye for now!
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