3 Players who have beaten Rafael Nadal at French Open ft. Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal is the greatest claycourt player of all time by some distance. The Spaniard has won 63 singles titles on clay, including 14 French Opens, which is a record.
In fact, Nadal has lost only four matches on the red dirt of Roland Garros in Paris to date. His win-loss record is an incredible 112-4 in the Paris Major, which puts his winning ratio at a little more than 96%. In this article, we will take a look at three players who have beaten Nadal at Roland Garros.
3 players who have beaten Rafael Nadal at French Open
#3.Alexander Zverev
Zverev beat the Spaniard 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the first round of the French Open 2024 on Monday, May 27. Nadal, who was unseeded, had to take on the fourth-seed German in the first round of the tournament itself.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner fought on bravely after struggling with injuries for nearly two years and missing most of the current season. He let a 5-3 advantage slip in the second set, thereby allowing Zverev to break back and take the set into a tie-break. The German then played well in the third set to seal the fate of the match and hand Rafael Nadal only his fourth defeat at Roland Garros.
#2. Robin Soderling
Soderling is probably the prime reason why Roger Federer managed to win his solitary French Open title. The Swede beat Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the fourth round of the French Open in 2009. Soderling took out Federer's nemesis on clay, thus paving the way for the latter to win his only Grand Slam on clay.
Federer beat Soderling in the final that year to win the title. However, prior to that, Soderling's fierce ball-striking stunned his opponent. The Spaniard won the second set, but Soderling was the superior player on the day. Nadal, however, had his revenge the following year by beating Soderling in the final.
#1. Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic remains the only player to have beaten Rafael Nadal twice at Roland Garros. The two players have collided 10 times at the French Open, with the Spaniard prevailing in eight of them.
Djokovic first beat the Spaniard at Roland Garros in the quarterfinal in 2015, winning 7-5, 6-3, 6-1, ending the latter’s 39-match winning streak. The Serb dominated the Spaniard that day on clay like hardly anybody has ever.
Djokovic’s second win came in the semifinal in 2021 when he won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2. Nadal won the first set, but the Serb showed extraordinary resilience to win the next three. The third set lasted 98 minutes. It was surely one of Djokovic’s most memorable wins over his arch-rival. He went on to win the title that year.