2014 FRENCH OPEN: Nadal Wins 14th Major; Record 9th FO Title

To my surprise, Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4 to win his record 9th French Open title and 14th major overall. Unfortunately, Djokovic could not sustain his best tennis, overwhelmed by the hot conditions and perhaps a stomach ailment (he vomited on the court during the fourth set and looked queasy throughout the match) to succumb to the man universally acclaimed as the King of Clay, now sporting an astonishing 66-1 record at Roland Garros.

The victory means that at age 28, Nadal matches Pete Sampras' 14 majors, and is a mere 3 majors behind Roger Federer's all-time haul of 17 and with his untouchable record at Roland Garros, his supporters can make a difficult-to-rebut claim of the Man from Manacor as the Greatest of all Time.

More immediately, Nadal will retain his World #1 ranking and he has improved to 23-19 in his head-to-head with Djokovic. He has appeared in two major finals this year and won one of them. He has almost no points to defend at Wimbledon thanks to his shocking 1st round exit last year from the SW19 tournament but then the rest of the summer will be interesting as Djokovic tries to chase him down as Nadal defends title points from the North American hard court season in Montreal, Cincinnati, and New York.