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The 2012 French Open Men's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Men's Singles tournament at the 2012 French Open. In the final, Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5 to win the match. It was a Major final match of historic proportions, as Rafael Nadal was looking to become the first man to win seven French Open titles, thus breaking the record previously held by Björn Borg, who won six titles, and equalling the record held by Chris Evert, who won seven titles, whilst Novak Djokovic was looking to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold each of the four Major titles simultaneously. As well, Djokovic had defeated Nadal in the previous 3 Grand Slam finals and Nadal was trying to avoid coming runner-up in all 4 tournaments to the same man.
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Match
Rafael Nadal won the first set 6–4, Nadal gaining a break of serve after a long attritional battle. There were several delays due to the erratic rain, but none lasting more than an hour. With Nadal leading by two sets to one, and Djokovic leading 2–1 and serving (up a break) in the fourth set, the match was suspended due to rain; it was initially thought that Djokovic had gained the momentum, having won eight games in a row prior to the suspension of the match, however, Nadal was able to regroup and take the fourth set, and ultimately the match, after Djokovic double-faulted on championship point down.
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Djokovic and Nadal about the match
Djokovic: "I could have easily lost the match in the fourth round or even more against Tsonga, but I managed to come to the finals for the first time in my career," Djokovic said. "I should be happy about that, of course. I will be, and I am, but in this moment I am disappointed about this loss because I thought I started to play better in the third set and felt like I could take this match to a fifth set and then everything could be possible, but there was a rain delay when I started to feel really good on the court".
Nadal: "When you lose, it's because you don't deserve the title,". "So in my mind, this was the final I had to win. That's why I was so emotional".
Toni Nadal after the match
"For us, it was very important to win here now against Djokovic, because we knew that if he won again, the fourth one, then (Rafa) completing a Grand Slam of losses would have been ugly, and we were very close to doing that."