For all the aesthetic charm of Nadal s rivalry with Roger Federer which represents a more dramatic clash of styles the sequence of matches between these two players is arguably even more compelling because it is harder to predict which way the results will fall.
The final set was as finely balanced as you would expect. Djokovic broke serve in the very first game but then lost his advantage at 4 3 after a controversial incident when he gave up a point for touching the net.
In fact he actually fell into the net with all his weight so eager was he to finish off a tempting short ball. He argued his case with umpire Pascal Maria trying to claim that the point had already been finished by the time contact was made but it was a lost cause.
More highlight reel moments flowed during the closing stages including a hot dog lob that Nadal played between his legs with his back to the net with the result that Djokovic smashed his next shot into the net.
But it was the backhand pass in the 16th and final game that Nadal may remember with most fondness. Djokovic struck a solid approach shot and rushed the net as he had been doing regularly throughout the final two sets. He could have made a play at the ball as it flew back past him but chose to leave it only to see it land just inside his forehand corner.
That brought up 0 30 leaving Nadal within touching distance of victory. And when Djokovic floated groundstrokes long on the next two points the match was over.
It will prompt comparisons with their other greatest contest the Australian Open final of 2012 which Djokovic finally clinched after 5hr 53mins. That finished at 7 5 in the deciding set though it contained exactly the same number of games 55.
The fact that this match was 76 minutes shorter rather undermines the theory that clay court tennis is the most attritional form of the game. Though it may also have something to do with officials efforts to speed up the pace of play between points.
Umpire Maria warned both players yesterday for being too slow to serve and actually docked Nadal a point at one stage. Though he waited until Nadal led the third set by 5 1 40 0 to do so thus making sure that the penalty was unlikely to change the course of the match.
For Djokovic the result will be hard to accept. He spoke about destiny in the build up to this French Open and he appeared to believe that his drive to the Coupe des Mousquetaires would be powered by some supernatural force.
In a strange way his self belief only grew when he heard the traumatic news that his first coach Jelena Gencic had passed away during the middle weekend of the tournament. He promised that he would try to bring back the trophy in her memory. Yet for all his eyeballs out determination he fell just short of becoming the second man to defeat Nadal at Roland Garros.
Nadal's almost flawless record in the French Open which stretches back to 2005 must be one of the greatest feats in sport.
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