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Rafael Nadal will play Novak Djokovic in the Italian Open final. It doesn’t matter which year you read this, it will probably be true.
Sunday sees the two veterans go head to head in Rome for the sixth time in the history of the competition, held in the weeks leading up to the French Open every year.
Three of Nadal’s nine titles in Rome have come directly against Djokovic, with the Serbian winning the other two finals the pair have shared.
The two most recently met in the final of the 2019 edition, with Nadal claiming the fifth and latest of his titles in the Italian capital.
The story was the same in the 2009 and 2012 finals when Nadal and Djokovic were the last two standing. The latter’s two final victories over the former came in 2011 and 2014.
In fact, such is the dominance of the two in Rome that they’ve only failed to win the title twice between them in the last 17 years.
During that time, only Andy Murray in 2016 and Alexander Zverev in 2017 have been successful, both beating Djokovic in the final.
That means, since Carlos Moya beat David Nalbandian in 2004, either Nadal or Djokovic have been present in every final. That’s some record.
Meeting No.57
The latest meeting between two of tennis’s greatest players comes 217 days after its last, when Nadal beat Djokovic in the final of the French Open.
Djokovic has the edge in terms of the head to head record, winning 29 times to Nadal’s 27. He’s also more successful when it comes to Masters 1,000 finals, beating the Spaniard seven times and losing to him six times in 13 clashes.
Nadal should have the advantage in Rome on Sunday, with Djokovic having to play two matches on Saturday just to reach the final.
The Serbian totalled four hours and 56 minutes on court against Reilly Opelka and Lorenzo Sonego. He is, though, the only man to beat Nadal in an Italian Open final.
source: Marca
