Paris: Rafael Nadal has admitted that there were a few butterflies in his stomach during his record seventh French Open win which was played out across two days due to persistent rain interruptions. Nadal's 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over the No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic came on Monday after play ended the day before with the Serbian in control, and he admitted he had been very nervous.
"I wasn't ready for the match until three minutes before," said the world No. 2. "That was the first moment since we stopped yesterday that I really felt that I am here to play. I really felt nervous."
Nadal had appeared visibly irritated by the decision to continue playing on Sunday despite worsening conditions – he had lost eight of the final nine games played in continual drizzle – but he perked up on Monday when play resumed. He twice broke Djokovic to hasten the result, which took his past Bjorn Borg's tally of six titles at Roland Garros.
Speaking after the match, Nadal said the decision to resume on Monday had helped him vanquish his opponent. "It was very hard for me. I've been playing this match since Friday afternoon, it's a long time preparing, and then yesterday with all the stops," he said. "It was clearly a good thing for me to stop the match yesterday because of the conditions. The last couple of games, the conditions of the court were not right to play the final of a Grand Slam. We had to stop. The ball was heavier than ever. In my opinion the conditions were much more favourable for Novak than for me."
Nadal now has 11 Grand Slam titles, but chose to play down the significance of going past Borg in the record books. "The seventh is important because I am the player who has more today but the most important thing is to win Roland Garros, whether it's the first, second, third or seventh time," he said.
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