Taming Nadal at Roland Garros: How did Djokovic pull it off? | The Hindu In Focus Podcast

The 2021 French Open semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is widely considered as one of the greatest contests the sport has seen. The match, pitting the world’s number one player against the greatest clay court player the game has seen, was a feast of high quality tennis.

While a great deal has been written about the historic nature of Djokovic’s victory, it is still unclear what exactly he did differently to pull it off. After all, starting with Roger Federer, every top player of the past decade has thrown everything and the kitchen sink at Nadal and failed to break his supremacy at the French Open, which he has won 13 times, losing just twice in more than 15 years.

We dissect Djokovic’s epic run at this year’s French Open, which actually began at the finals of the Italian Open in May, where he lost to Nadal in the final, and ended with another humdinger of a final against Stefanos Tsitsipas. We also delve into what Djokovic’s 19th Grand Slam means for the GOAT debate, which has so far been dominated by Federer and Nadal. Our guest for this episode is Sanjeev Kassal.

Sanjeev is a winner of five National Tennis Championship (Seniors) titles and six International Tennis Federation (ITF) Seniors titles. He has been a commentator and interviewer at the Commonwealth Games, the 2012 London Olympics, the 2013 French Open, and many of India’s Davis Cup matches.

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