Live French Open Final Updates: Nadal vs. Djokovic

 Live French Open Final Updates: Nadal vs. Djokovic

Rafael Nadal is chasing a 20th Grand Slam men’s singles championship to tie Roger Federer’s record. Novak Djokovic is just behind them and has had a nearly flawless season.

By Ben Rothenberg, Christopher Clarey, Matt Futterman and Karen Crouse

RIGHT NOWNovak Djokovic is down two sets to Rafael Nadal and Djokovic has a 4-3 in the third set.

How to watch: NBC in the United States and streaming on the NBC and NBC Sports apps.

Rafael Nadal, a 12-time French Open champion, has never lost a final at Roland Garros and has never been pushed past four sets. He could tie Roger Federer on Sunday with a 20th Grand Slam singles title, a men’s record.

Novak Djokovic, the top seed and a 17-time Grand Slam singles champion, is on a quest to win each of the four Grand Slam events for a second time and to eventually catch his rivals in major titles.

Here’s what you need to know:

Djokovic is starting to make some uncharacteristic errors. Nadal leads 3-2.

Djokovic is picking it up on his serve and leads 2-1 in the third set.

Nadal is playing about as good as it gets.

Nadal wins the second set 6-2.

Yes, we’re still checking ball marks in 2020.

Nadal goes up another break for a 2-1 lead in the second set.

Djokovic is hurting himself with his serve placement.

Djokovic is starting to make some uncharacteristic errors. Nadal leads 3-2.

After holding serve three times in a row, Djokovic dumped his serve despondently in the fifth game of the third set, hitting three unforced errors to allow Nadal to break to love and extend his lead to 6-0, 6-2, 3-2.

Nadal is now three games from his 13th Grand Slam title. He has only faced three break points in the entire match — all three in the fourth game of the first set. Nadal still won that game.

Djokovic had broken serve at least six times in each of his previous wins at this year’s French Open; he is still seeking his first today.

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Djokovic is picking it up on his serve and leads 2-1 in the third set.

Djokovic got off to a positive start in the third set with a hold, just his third game of the match. And after holding serve in his final service game of the second set, it marked two consecutive holds of serve — not usually a feat that deserves celebration for a top-ranked player, but that’s the kind of day it has been for Djokovic.

After holding, Nadal earned a break point chance in Djokovic’s second service game of the third set, but uncharacteristically missed a backhand, and then missed another on Djokovic’s game point.

After being the much more precise player early on, Nadal has hit four unforced errors already in this third set. Not usually a big deal, but he only hit six unforced errors in the first two sets combined.

Nadal is playing about as good as it gets.

The best tennis player in the world, in a year when he finishes the year at No. 1, wins no more than 55 percent of the points he plays. Dominance in tennis is a lot more subtle than most people realize.

But there is nothing subtle about what Nadal is doing to Djokovic. During the first two sets, Nadal has won 66 points to 44 for Djokovic. In the second set, it was 34-25. That is about as dominant as a player can be, especially against the best player in the world.

Djokovic had a plan — use a backhand drop shot to Nadal’s backhand. Nadal knew this was coming and he is playing that way.

As Mike Tyson used to say, everyone has a plan until they smacked in the mouth. Nadal has smacked Djokovic in the mouth. Does Djokovic have a Plan B?

Nadal wins the second set 6-2.

The drop shot has been one of Djokovic’s primary weapons during this French Open — a smart choice based on the heavy, low-bouncing conditions in October.

He hit more than 140 coming into the final and has not deviated from that plan against Nadal. But he has had only limited success.

He has hit a handful of winners but also experienced plenty of disappointment. Nadal so far has covered the shot effectively, hitting several winners off it, including two crisply sliced backhand winners that let Djokovic shaking his head. But then there has been a lot of head shaking in these first two sets, and Nadal is one set away from ending it.

Yes, we’re still checking ball marks in 2020.

French chair umpire Damien Dumusois down from his perch on a couple of occasions already to verify ball marks to determine whether shots were in or out. That is the longstanding tradition at Roland Garros and all clay-court events.

But change could be on the way. The FoxTenn electronic line-judging system was tested at the Rio Open earlier this year and was set to be used at the Mutua Madrid Open before that tournament was canceled. The French Open has negotiated with FoxTenn in the past without taking the plunge.

For now, the sport has been left in an imperfect place with chair umpires still examining ball marks and making the final calls while television networks, like NBC and Tennis Channel, use Hawk-Eye replays to check the chair umpires, even though the Hawk-Eye system is not yet approved for official use on clay.

Nadal goes up another break for a 2-1 lead in the second set.

Djokovic got on the board by winning the first game of the second set, but he’s still no match for Nadal’s consistency. Through nine games, Djokovic has hit 21 unforced errors, compared to just three for Nadal.

Nadal quickly went after Djokovic’s serve again in the third game.

Djokovic saved two break points — the first by hitting each sideline on consecutive shots and the second with a crosscourt backhand that landed behind Nadal.

But the third break point was Nadal’s after Djokovic twisted a forehand into the net.

Djokovic is hurting himself with his serve placement.

It goes without saying that Nadal is crushing Djokovic’s spirit by dominating his serve, but the problem may have more to do with Djokovic than with Nadal.

Throughout the tournament, Nadal has continued to receive serves from far behind the baseline, even as other players have crept closer into the court to take advantage of the slower, heavier ball.