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2012 French Open: Rafael Nadal Defeats Novak Djokovic At Roland Garros

A rain-soaked 2012 French Open ended with the master of the clay court, Rafael Nadal, winning his seventh title at Roland Garros.

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There's little debate about it now: Rafael Nadal owns Roland Garros. The Spaniard cemented his claim to be considered the greatest clay-court player ever, capturing his seventh title at Roland Garros by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the 2012 French Open. The event will go down marred - and marked - by rain delays throughout the weekend.

As much as Nadal's dominance, the rain became a key narrative throughout this Open, especially in key moments, some seemingly aimed at Djokovic. After Nadal led by two sets, Djokovic was able to break through momentarily, winning eight straight games after trailing at a break to take the third set, and briefly lead the fourth by a 2-1 mark.

A delay of 34 minutes in the second set seemed to hurt Djokovic, down 3-5 at the time. He'd come back to lose his serve and the set. Conversely, the delay that moved the action to Monday paused Djokovic's 2-1 lead in the fourth set, which Nadal came back and won.

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Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.