It was Cloudy , and a perfect Finals of Roland Garros 2012 , Novak Djokovic trailing 2 sets to 1 and a Break up in the 4th, when the Rain Gods had mercy on Nadal to Extend the Final on 'Monday'.
The Outcome as we all know was Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in 4 sets. The Score line was 6-4,6-3,2-6,7-5.
The Win was so special for Nadal as He had broken Bjorn Borg's Record by Winning 7 French Open Titles.
This year in 2013 , we are Once again at the Same Venue and Same two People but It is Semi Finals this time and a Loss to Djokovic here, would mean that Nadal would loose Just his Second Match at Roland Garros, whereas a Win for Nadal would make our belief stronger that No player has ever existed other than him to be the Greatest for Clay Courts.
It is a Finals like Semi Finals and each one would wish to pass this litmus to emerge victorious.But the Test would not be an Icing on the Cake for both, as they would fight for one moment that each would wish to cherish for the rest of their life.
Novak Djokovic Would battle it hard and with great Valor to become just the 5th person after Rod laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to Win a Carrer Grand Slam.
It is going to be a Battle of Strength, Courage , Determination and Mental Fitness between the two to Secure their place in the Finals of RG 2013.
Coming through a gap of almost 8 months, Nadal is in his prime form, having reached finals of all 8 ATP tournaments he has played in and winning 6 out of them. Both the loss this year came on Clay courts, one against Zeballos and against Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo Masters.
Novak has had a roller coaster ride in clay court tournaments this year, with his loss in 3rd Round of Madrid against Dimitrov and QF loss to Tommas Berdych in Rome Masters.
Both Nadal and Djokovic have had their share of good draw at Roland Garros this year.
Djokovic came through a to Semi Finals with a loss of Just One set against P. Kohlschreiber in 4th round.
He Overcame a Motivated 'Baby Federer', Grigor Dimitrov in 3rd round to whom Djoker lost in Madrid.
Whereas Nadal had lost the first set in both Ist and IInd round matches. He faced stiff competition from Daniel Brands in Ist round,else was sublime in reaching the Semis.
A Brief Analysis of Head to Head between the two.
Going by the stats, these two have come across the Net against each other 34 times and Nadal leads with 19-15 record.
At Clay courts , it is Nadal who has sheer dominance of 11-3 matches. The 3 matches Win for Djokovic were at Rome and Madrid in 2011 and Latest one at Monte Carlo in 2013. All the matches were won in straight sets by Novak. Whereas at Hard Courts, it is a different story altogether, where Novak leads Nadal with 11-5.
The Best Match between the two was at Australian Open 2012 , where Novak prevailed in a thrilling final of Five sets which lasted 5 hours 53 minutes, the Longest Grand Slam Final ever.
Tennis Legends consider this Rivalry between the Two as One of the greatest Rivalry with age on their side, it is going to take a few more years to have a final say on this.
Lets Wait and Watch for One of the Most Awaited matches of the Year...
Hope the Best Player Wins.
Quotes Before the Semis:"It's the semi-finals and doesn't matter if it's against Novak or against another player, because the player who wins is not going to be the champion of Roland Garros. It's just a semi-final," Nadal Said.Djokovic Told , "We are in good form. This is it, you know. This is the biggest matchup of our Roland Garros 2013 campaign for both me and him," he said. "I need to be very disciplined and focused in order to get emotionally, physically, and mentally ready for that match."
Now Nadal leads with 20-15
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