Interesting stats from ESPN website.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will meet in the men’s singles final of the French Open on Sunday, their seventh meeting in a Grand Slam final. The only men who have met in more major finals are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (eight).
ESPN Stats & Information previews the match.
Milestones in reach for both players
Djokovic will look to become the eighth man all time to complete the career Grand Slam, and Murray is bidding to join Fred Perry, who in 1935 became the only British man to win the French Open.
Djokovic and Murray met at this year’s Australian Open, too, with the Serb winning in straight sets. This year marks the second time in the open era (since 1968) that the first two Grand Slam finals feature the same men. The other instance occurred in 2012 with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
And there are parallels between this year and 2012 for Djokovic:
• Entered the French Open final on a 27-match winning streak in majors
• Went into the French Open bidding for a fourth consecutive major title
• Looked to complete the career Grand Slam at the French
• Was the No. 1 seed at the Australian Open and the French Open
• Faced the No. 2 seed in the final
Djokovic’s pursuit of holding all four major titles simultaneously ended in Paris in 2012.
If at first you don't succeed ...
Novak Djokovic has lost all three times he has played in the final of the French Open. If he wins this year, he would join three players who also didn't win a particular Grand Slam title until their fourth appearance in the final -- the most losses in this scenario in the open era, which began in 1968.
------------------------------Losses Grand Slam Won First
Roger Federer ------------ 3 French Open 2009
Goran Ivanisevic --------- 3 Wimbledon 2001
Ivan Lendl --------------- 3 US Open 1985
* Novak Djokovic: 0-3 in French Open finals
The career Grand Slam isn’t the only historical achievement Djokovic is pursuing. With a win, he would join Don Budge (1937-38) and Rod Laver (1962, 1969) as the only men to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. A victory would make Djokovic the first man to win the Australian Open and French Open in the same season since Jim Courier in 1992, and he would be the fourth man in the open era to win a Grand Slam after losing his first three finals at that particular Grand Slam event.
Murray flush with recent clay success
There’s no way to get around it: Murray doesn’t have a good record against Djokovic. He is 10-23, including a 2-7 record against him in Grand Slam matches (2-4 in Grand Slam finals).
But Murray has found his form on clay. Since the start of 2015, he has won 35 of 38 matches on clay and won three titles on the dirt. Before this, he never reached the final at a clay-court event. Early last month, he defeated Djokovic in straight sets at the Rome Masters 1000 event.
The French Open didn’t start off great for Murray. He needed five sets to win each of his first two matches, including a comeback from two sets down in the first round.
He could become the second man in the open era to win a Grand Slam title after coming back from two sets down in his opening match. The other is Patrick Rafter, who did so in 1998 at the US Open.
I'll bet you are! Enjoy the match.
