Novak Djokovic was moved to tears after a prolonged standing ovation he has received from a sold-out crowd at the Roland Garros Stadium on Sunday. Djokovic lost to Rafael Nadal in the final of the French Open which prevented the Serbian tennis star to achieve a career Grand Slam. Nadal won his ninth French Open title and 14th Grand Slam title overall with a four-set victory.
“It was fantastic,” Djokovic admitted. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to play here… To be able to also be appreciated by the fans the way I was in the end of the match just gives me more strength and motivation to come back here and try till the end of my career hopefully to get at least [one] title.”
Djokovic has lost for the sixth time to Nadal at the French Open. Last year he lost to the Spaniard in the semifinals. Two years ago, they met in the final which Nadal also won. Prior to the blockbuster match on Sunday, Djokovic has defeated Nadal four times in a row including the Rome Masters final last month.
“I wasn’t playing at the level that I wanted, especially in the second part of the match,” he said. “These kind of big matches obviously take the best out of players, and of course it’s a huge challenge.
“I tried to do my best. My best wasn’t as the best against him in Rome a couple weeks ago. Congratulations to him. He was a better player in the crucial moments.”
Djokovic said that he was hoping to take the match to a fifth set but just couldn’t pull it off and on Nadal’s match point, he produced a double fault.
“It’s not impossible, but it’s very, very difficult to stay with Rafa on this court throughout the whole match on the highest level of performance,” said Djokovic. “It’s normal that you have ups and downs. I was just hoping that in the fourth I would be able to come back. I started feeling a little bit better, but I wasn’t managing to bring my A game when it was most needed in the end of the fourth.
Djokovic’s next tournament will be Wimbledon where he’s a defending finalist. He lost to Andy Murray in the final at the All England Club.
