THE FRENCH OPEN

Novak Djokovic missed the opportunity to join a select group of seven (Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), who have won a career grand slam in tennis, when he surprisingly lost in four sets this afternoon to Stan Wawrinka. Going into the tournament, Djokovic was a heavy favourite; already world number one, he had won pretty well everything so far this year, including the Australian Open in January. Even more importantly, he had beaten his nemesis Nadal in straight sets in the quarter finals, thereby joining an even more select group that have bested the Spaniard at Roland Garros (him and Robin Søderling in 2009). Going into the final, he must have felt that he would never have a better chance to win it.

True, he would have to beat Wawrinka, a gifted player who has bloomed late in his career (he is now over 30) and had won the Australian Open last year after beating Djokovic along the way. But Wawrinka is also erratic, who can just as easily go out in the first round as win a tournament; and (that Australian victory notwithstanding) he has a dismal career record against the Serb. When the first set went to Djokovic, it seemed to be business as usual.

However, Wawrinka then stepped up a gear, serving consistently at over 200 km/h  and spraying winners from both wings, particularly the backhand. Djokovic didn't play at all badly, but was essentially blown off the court. Wawrinka had previously said that he would have to play the match of his life to win; he did.

In many ways, the clay court French Open is the hardest of the four to win, unless (like Nadal) you have grown up with it in the southern Mediterranean. Many great players have won the other tournaments, but stumbled at the French; Sampras, McEnroe, Connors, Edberg and Becker in my lifetime, for instance. Similarly, there are many who have won the French, but none of the others; Kuerten, Gomez, Moya, Noah, Bruguera, Costa, Ferrero. Even Nadal's record of 14 grand slam titles would be much more modest, were it not for his 9 French Open titles.

Djokovic will come back next year, and - barring injury - will have a good chance of winning. However, that chance will not be as good as it was this year. It will have been a tough defeat to swallow.

Walter Blotscher