Nadal was contesting a 56th match against Novak Djokovic but this turned out to be one of the most one-sided as the Spaniard romped to a 6-0 6-2 7-5 victory.
Nadal was just about perfect for two sets and Djokovic was unable to find a way back into the contest in a tighter third.
Picture of the day
Tweet of the day
🙈Congratulations @RafaelNadal! It's amazing to kind of share this experience with you. Am I even allowed to say this?🙈
— Iga Świątek (@iga_swiatek) October 11, 2020
Uncle Toni celebrates
Toniiii 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/cpQNLFfEbu
— Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar (@rnadalacademy) October 11, 2020
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So long a fixture by Nadal’s side, his uncle Toni has taken a back seat for the last few years to concentrate on the family’s academy, allowing Carlos Moya to take over as head coach. But he was living every moment back home in Majorca.
A happy ending for Mladenovic
Back to back!@KikiMladenovic & @TimeaBabos win the Women's Doubles title for the second year running, defeating Krawczyk/Guarachi 6-4 7-5.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/88hwd72sMz
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) October 11, 2020
Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos would have hoped to challenge for the US Open doubles title before they were forced to pull out because of Mladenovic’s quarantine. A successful defence of their French Open title was therefore especially sweet.
“To lift here the trophy, it’s always special, but this time you cannot imagine what relief and what pride it is to actually to leave this tournament with such a reward that I still have to wake up and believe it’s actually true,” said Mladenovic.
New Spanish star
🏆💪
@alcarazcarlos03 lifts his second #ATPChallenger trophy and first on home soil. Champion at the @SanchezCasal in Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/zUIHa6UK3c— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 11, 2020
When Nadal finally hangs up his racket, he has an heir apparent in 17-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, who is already attracting a lot of attention within the tennis world and won his second Challenger title on Sunday. He will hit a career-high ranking of 158 on Monday and is the youngest man in the world’s top 500.
Roll of honour
Men’s singles: Rafael Nadal (Spain)
Women’s singles: Iga Swiatek (Poland)
Men’s doubles: Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies (Germany)
Women’s doubles: Timea Babos (Hungary) and Kristina Mladenovic (France)
Boys’ singles: Dominic Stricker (Switzerland)
Girls’ singles: Elsa Jacquemot (France)
Boys’ doubles: Flavio Cobolli (Italy) and Dominic Stricker (Switzerland)
Girls’ doubles: Eleonora Alvisi and Lisa Pigato (Italy)
Men’s wheelchair singles: Alfie Hewett (Great Britain)
Women’s wheelchair singles: Yui Kamiji (Japan)
Men’s wheelchair doubles: Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid (Great Britain)
Women’s wheelchair doubles: Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot (Netherlands)
Quad wheelchair singles: Dylan Alcott (Australia)
Quad wheelchair doubles: David Wagner (USA) and Sam Schroder (Netherlands)
