Nadal Wins Record 9th French Open, 5th Straight

Rack up another for the King of Clay. Rafael Nadal won his 14th career major, winning the French Open Final over Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 today in Paris.

In the first set, Djokovic broke Nadal once and held serve, winning 6-3. In the second set, although he still was not as his best, Nadal broke Djokovic at 3-2 and 6-5 to begin to turn the match around. In the third and fourth sets, Nadal seized control of the match, breaking Djokovic twice to win 6-2 in the third before holding off a valiant rally attempt by Djokovic and some apparent back stiffness.

The 14th career major ties Nadal for second all-time with Pete Sampress, trailing only Roger Federer's 17. The win was also Nadal's record-fifth straight French open championship and the 9th in 10 years, with the only blemish in 2009, when he lost to Robin Soderling in the 4th round, allowing Roger Federer to complete the career Grand Slam.