Why Rafael Nadal Is Still French Open Favourite, Despite Loss to Novak Djokovic

As a Novak Djokovic fan myself, the Serbian's straight-sets win over Rafael Nadal made up for all those "almost" moments, like Madrid and Rome in 2009.

However, even though Djokovic beat Nadal on a clay court, this is not the final step in his career progression. Being slightly pessimistic, I'm already sweating over the amount of points Djokovic needs to defend next year!

Having said that, it's a nice thing to be anxious about!

Beating Nadal once on clay is amazing, but Roger Federer has shown that one or even two triumphs over Nadal on clay does not suddenly give you a guaranteed formula to beat him on the red dirt.

If Djokovic can beat Nadal at Rome or even Roland Garros, then there is much clearer proof that he can challenge Nadal on that surface. To the best of my knowledge, no-one can say they have beaten Nadal twice in one clay-court season.

Before this clay season started, I always thought that Madrid presented the best opportunity for Djokovic to get one over on Nadal on clay. The high altitude and faster court, after all, play in his favour. Sometimes, it feels like Madrid is just a hard-court surface that has a sprinkle of clay on the top.

The draw did also open up quite well for Djokovic, although it must be said that Nadal did get a bye because of Del Potro's withdrawal. That being said, he still had to contend with Federer.

When Andy Murray went out early and Berdych followed, both thanks to the Brazilian Bellucci, a lot of the obstacles in Novak's path to the final were removed.

For Djokovic, beating Ferrer was very important.

It would have been understandable if his unbeaten run came to an end against the second in-form player on clay, but he ground out the kind of win that he would have never got in previous years.

He then replicated this mental strength and desire again in the semifinal against a very good Thomaz Bellucci.

While we are still in the middle of the clay-court season, I think a better test of Djoko's credentials will be on grass.

After Djokovic retired in the semifinal of Wimbledon against Nadal, a couple of years ago, they have only met once on grass at Queens in 2008.

This was another tough win for Nadal, showing that Djokovic was close to him on that surface. If Djokovic can beat him on grass, he will have proven that he can beat Nadal on all surfaces and give his sky-high confidence an even greater boost.

I love Djokovic and certainly am not trying to take anything away from him. However, I just don't want to place too much importance on one match.

That being said, Djokovic is much more focused than I have ever seen him—he appreciates that beating Nadal in a best of three series is just a step in the process. If he can translate his Masters form against Nadal into a Grand Slam performance, then he truly can be one of the greats.