Nadal Wins 9th French Open, Sharapova Takes 5th Major

The French Open is complete and we have two not unexpected champions in Sharapova and Nadal.  Nadal, despite losing at times to Djokovic on clay, has not yet surrendered the French Open to him, and this result will go a long way toward Nadal being year end no. 1.  Sharapova also will have her say in the no. 1 race as she has little to defend the rest of the season.  She also cemented her claim as the woman to beat on clay.

7) Maria Sharapova (RUS) def. 4) Simona Halep (ROU) 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4

-Sharapova wins her 32nd career title, 3rd of 2014, last '14 Madrid
-It is her 5th major ('04 Wimbledon, '06 US Open, '08 Aussie Open, '12 French Open)
-The French Open is the only major she has won more than once and the only won post surgery
-She is back up to no. 5 in the world and can really only add points in the second half of the season since she missed the majority on the '13 summer and fall with injury
-She breaks a string of 7 consecutive French Opens with different champions
-This was the first French Open final to go 3 sets since Capriati outlasted Clijsters 12-10 in the 3rd in '01

Sharapova has now established herself as the premier clay court player at this time, at least when she is able to avoid Serena.  I'm not sure how much this win says for Sharapova as to her contention at other majors given her lack of success off of clay post-surgery.  But good for her and we may have finally found a player on tour who stands above the rest in terms of clay court tennis where before it was put 8-10 names in a hat and each one is almost equally likely to win.  With her gutty performance in the final, Halep has shown that she likely a member of the top 10 (if not top 5) to stay and that she can hang with the big names, not just beat players ranked below her.  I imagine she will one day add the "senior" French Open title to one she won as a junior 6 years ago.

1) Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 2) Novak Djokovic (SRB) 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4

-Nadal wins his 64th career title, 4th of 2014, last '14 Madrid
-It is his 14th major, which ties him with Sampras for 2nd all-time behind Federer's 17
-It is his 9th win at the French Open ('05-'08, '10-'13), the most wins by one man at a single major
-It is his 5th consecutive French Open, the most in a row in Paris
-He retains his no. 1 ranking and will likely keep it until Wimbledon
-Djokovic remains a French Open short of a career grand slam

So Nadal yet again retains his French Open title and the king of clay is now only 3 majors behind Federer.  Nadal keeps the no. 1 ranking and he and Djokovic may be trading it back and forth a bit in the coming months as Nadal has all the points to defend during the US Open series and Djokovic will be defending points during the fall season.  There's really not much new write.  Nadal is still the king of clay, especially at the French Open, but he and Djokovic continue to be close to each other and play competitive matches.  Now we go to grass, where Nadal has struggled in recent years and Federer and Murray have claimed the last 2 titles.