French Open Men’s Final: Here’s what you should know
We are now less than two hours away from the blockbuster French Open men’s singles final between the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Andy Murray. It is an ideal time to brush up your knowledge about the Djokovic-Murray rivalry and what a win would mean to either of them.
Here are 10 things you should know about the final:
1. Djokovic and Murray have met 33 times and the Serb has won 23 of those meetings. This season, they have played each other thrice with Djokovic winning two of those (Australian Open final, Madrid Masters final) and Murray winning their most recent showdown at the Rome Masters final.
2. In Grand Slam finals, they have crossed swords six times of which Djokovic has won all four matches at the Australian Open (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016) and Murray has won at the US Open (2012) and Wimbledon (2013).
3. Overall, this is their seventh face-off at a Major which is just one short of the all-time record of eight meetings between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
4. If Djokovic wins, he will become the eighth man to complete a Career Slam joining Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
5. The World No. 1 will also get to achieve another rare and a much-coveted record – a win at Roland Garros today will make him just the third man to hold all the four Major titles at the same time after Don Budge (1937-38) and Rod Laver (1962, 1969).
6. Another Major title will be the Serb’s 12th Slam glory of his illustrious career which will tie him with Australia’s former World No. 1 Roy Emerson.
7. For Murray, a win today will make him the first British champion since Fred Perry’s 1935 triumph.
8. If Murray wins, he will be the fourth man in history to have won the three Slams besides the Australian Open joining René Lacoste, Henri Cochet and Tony Trabert.
9. At the 2016 French Open, the top seed has lost just one set. It was against the 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round.
10. In contrast, Murray has already dropped six sets. He had two tough couple of rounds to begin the tournament where he prevailed over Radek Stepanek and Mathias Bourgue respectively in five sets. In his quarter-final and semi-final too, the Scot conceded a set each to Richard Gasquet and Stan Wawrinka.