The last time Nadal was this dominant heading into a French Open final was 2008.  He  beat Thomaz Bellucci, then a qualifier, in the first round, then Nicolas Devilder, also a qualifier, then Jarkko Nieminen the 26th seed, then 22md seed and fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco.  Nadal only dropped 3 games against 19th seed and fellow Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro.  Djokovic came the closest to taking a set losing the third set in a tiebreak.  Finally, Nadal dominated Federer in the finals with a loss of only 4 games.

This year, he’s been even more dominant.  His closest match was against Nicolas Almagro who took the first set to a tiebreak.  But other than that, no one had taken more than 8 games off Rafa.  David Ferrer who was having a similarly dominant French Open only managed 5 games.

Today’s final was under suspect weather.  There was some chance of rain in the afternoon, but organizers kept the schedule at 3 PM despite forecast for rain.

It didn’t matter initially.  Nadal opened up with two breaks, before Djokovic broke back.  Nadal still took the first set 6-4.  When Nadal took the set, 6-3, it seemed the king of clay was back on his throne.  And the domination continued to 2-0 in the third.

But then something strange happened.  Was it the weather?  Was it Djokovic’s resolve?  Was it Nadal’s frustration with the rain-soaked clay that nullified his kicking groundstrokes.  Nadal grumbled to officials and had a meltdown that ‘s rarely been seen.  Djokovic began to win one game after another.  Soon, he had taken the third set, 6-2, then broken for a 2-0 lead.  Finally, Nadal eked out a hold and the score was 2-1.  That’s when the match was called due to rain and scheduled to be played on Monday.

So who does the rain delay favor?  It should favor Nadal.  Djokovic will have to come out much quicker than he did yesterday and take the fourth set.  Meanwhile, Nadal will have a time to recollect his emotions which he may not have done had the match completed today.

By taking the third set, Djokovic has guaranteed that Nadal won’t be able to claim this title without dropping a set.  And if Djokovic has his way, Nadal won’t even win the title.  The last time Nadal had to complete a match split over two days in a major was the 2008 US Open when Nadal was down 2 sets to love against Murray.  Nadal came back the next day and won the third set, but Murray eventually won the fourth.

Critical for Djokovic is to keep the break lead and try to ride momentum into the fifth.