Rafael Nadal Confident His French Open Record is Difficult to Break Compared to Novak Djokovic’s All-time Grand Slam Record

Which record is hard to break: Rafael Nadal‘s 14 French Open wins, or Novak Djokovic‘s 24 Grand Slam wins? The Spaniard himself thinks his record is harder.

Nadal, after winning his career’s first Major at the 2005 French Open, defended his crown in the next three seasons. After a fourth-round exit in 2009, he completed a five-peat. 

In the next two seasons (2015 and 2016), he couldn’t make the semifinals. But he completed a four-peat next, and following his semifinal exit in 2021, Nadal clinched his career’s last Major at the 2022 French Open by breezing past Casper Ruud. 

My Roland Garros record is going to be tough to beat. I think it will be harder to surpass this one than Novak’s 24 Major titles. You never know, but if you made me bet, I think it will take longer to beat 14 Roland Garros titles than 24 Majors.

Rafael Nadal said in his Netflix documentary ‘Rafa’

After Nadal, the player with the second-most French Open titles was Bjorn Borg (six), while in women’s tennis, Chris Evert holds the record with seven titles. Djokovic never met Nadal in a Roland Garros final, but has played him 10 times in other stages. 

The 22-time Grand Slam champion holds an 8-2 head-to-head record over the Serb in the clay-court Major. Djokovic beat Nadal in the 2015 quarterfinals and the 2021 semifinals.

Nadal hung up his racket at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In his career’s last clay-court match, Nadal lost to Djokovic in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and later, Nole made the final and defeated Carlos Alcaraz to win his career’s first Olympic gold medal. 

Joao Fonseca analyzes his match against Novak Djokovic 

After Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the French Open due to a wrist injury, Jannik Sinner soon joined him on the sidelines because severe cramps saw him lose his second-round match to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in five sets. 

Djokovic followed Sinner the next day. Despite a 2-0 lead in the third round against Joao Fonseca, the 39-year-old couldn’t capitalize on it. This saw the 19-year-old become the first teenager to defeat the 24-time Grand Slam champion, also registering his career’s biggest win. 

It was very tough to play against him in that heat. He was wearing me out. If I hit hard, the ball came back even harder. If I played higher, he would drop shot or become aggressive. I just kept going. I focused point by point. I wasn’t thinking that I still had to win three more sets. I just kept telling myself: ‘keep going, keep going.’ I noticed that he was a bit tired, and that gave me some hope.

Joao Fonseca said at the press conference

Fonseca next knocked out Casper Ruud to reach his career’s first Grand Slam quarterfinals. The Brazilian ace has already lifted two ATP-level singles titles (last year’s Argentina Open and the Swiss Indoors. In the quarterfinals, he lost to Jakub Mensik.

And I just kept going. When I won the fourth set, I was already exhausted. The fifth set was brutal. I couldn’t even think, just tried to keep going. I think when I won the third set, I started to believe a bit more.

Joao Fonseca added 

Djokovic will be bidding for his historic 25th Major at Wimbledon, which he won seven times, last winning it in 2022 by defeating Nick Kyrgios. Since then, he has made two finals, in 2023 and 2024, losing both times to Alcaraz. 

Last year, eventual winner Sinner defeated him in the semifinals. Djokovic snapped the five-match losing streak against the Italian ace in this year’s Australian Open semifinals. Later in the final, Djokovic lost to Alcaraz.

Also read: Maja Chwalinska Stays Humble Despite Roland Garros Quarterfinal Run: “I Am Still the Player with Lowest Ranking”