Djokovic deserved to win, concedes Nadal

TIL Desk Sports/ Rafael Nadal was his usual gracious self despite suffering his first defeat at Roland Garros since 2015 as he went out to world number one Novak Djokovic in the the French Open semi-finals on Friday, saying his opponent had deserved his victory.

It was only 13-time champion Nadal’s third defeat here since his debut in 2005 and the first time in 115 best-of-five-set matches on clay that he had lost after taking the opening set.

With the temperature dropping as the sun started to set, Nadal’s usually devastating top spin was less effective and top seed Djokovic started an unlikely comeback after losing the first five games to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-2.

“It is true that probably the conditions were a little bit slower later on. We had been playing (in) very warm (weather) and high bounces,” Nadal told a news conference.