When Roger Federer said on the eve of his 39th match against Novak Djokovic, “He’s not Rafa Nadal”, he must have suspected his hubris would come back to haunt him. On Sunday afternoon, it did.
Djokovic in no way resembles the current incarnation of Nadal (although Federer claimed he was referring to the Rafa of clay legend), and the Serb’s 6-4, 6-3 win confirmed there is only one clear favourite for the French Open next week – and it is not the Spaniard who has won there nine times but lost four times on European clay this summer.