Both Novak Djokovic "Hurricane" and Spaniard Rafael Nadal "El Matador" are looking forward to a new step closer to their Swiss rival Roger Federer in the Grand Slam tournament, when they meet Djokovic and Nadal on Sunday in the French Open final, "Roland Garros".
Federer holds the record for the number of titles won by any player in the history of his participation in the "Grand Slam" four championships, with 20 titles, compared to 19 titles for Nadal and 17 titles for Djokovic.
Therefore, the exciting confrontation tomorrow between Djokovic and the world's number one and number two Nadal will be like writing a new line in the history of these major tournaments.
The confrontation between Djokovic and Nadal is the most frequent confrontation between two tennis players during the open era, as they have met 55 previous times and meet tomorrow for the 56th time in their sports careers, compared to 50 confrontations between Djokovic and Federer and 40 confrontations so far between Federer and Nadal.
Nadal (left) wants to equal Federer with major tournament titles and Djokovic hopes to get close (Getty Images)
And when the two players go to the "Philippe Chatrier" stadium tomorrow, some records will be at stake, other than the pride of winning this title in these difficult circumstances due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, which struck the world and corrupted the sports calendar in various games.
In addition to the new record in the record of confrontations between players in the era of open tennis, Nadal can improve his record in the number of times he wins the Roland Garros title, as Nadal seeks to win the championship title for the 13th time in his sports career so far.
If Nadal achieves this title, he will equal the record for the number of titles in the Grand Slam, equal to Federer in the balance of 20 titles.
During the previous 55 clashes between Djokovic and Nadal, the Serbian player has the advantage with 29 victories compared to 26 for Nadal, but the latter is the crowned king on clay and has a great record in the Roland Garros championship.
Among the previous confrontations between the players, Djokovic and Nadal met in 15 matches in the "Grand Slam" championships, and Djokovic won 9 of them.
Another day, another victory wave for @DjokerNole đź‘Ź
🎥: @rolandgarros pic.twitter.com/K8b6QcruKM
- ATP Tour (@atptour) October 9, 2020
Djokovic, the 33-year-old winner of the Australian Open, can raise his tally to 18 titles in the "Grand Slam" tournaments and get a step closer to Nadal and Federer if he wins the title tomorrow.
Djokovic - who won Roland Garros just once in 2016 - said winning the Roland Garros title provides more incentive.
On the other hand, Nadal, the "king of clay courts", has an impressive record in this tournament more than any other player in this tournament or other Grand Slam tournaments.
Nadal has lost just two games in the course of all his appearances at Roland Garros, who have won the title 12 times.
Nadal also has an additional incentive in tomorrow's match, because winning in it will bring his tally to 100 wins in the championship matches throughout history.
These are the moments he plays for 🙌
🎥: @rolandgarros |
@RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/fmjmEj9eVg
- ATP Tour (@atptour) October 9, 2020
Despite this, Nadal said he could not consider the confrontation with Djokovic to be decided in his favor given these numbers.
"I know this stadium has done well for a long time, and that helps me ... But at the same time, Djokovic has an amazing record here too, reaching the final rounds in most of his tournament appearances. I need to play my best against Novak (Djokovic)," Nadal added. Without playing tennis to the best of me, it will be very difficult. "
The first to beat Nadal in the clay courts of Roland Garros was the Swedish Robin Söderling in 2009, then Djokovic beat Nadal in the quarter-finals of the tournament in 2015 to be the only victory for Djokovic for what he described as "the greatest competitor" in 7 confrontations between them, Roland Garros.