It can’t get bigger than this. While Djokovic is bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors at the same time, Nadal is attempting to become the first man ever to win seven French Open titles. May the best player win…

Novak Slam or Super 7?

It can’t get bigger than this. While Djokovic is bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors at the same time, Nadal is attempting to become the first man ever to win seven French Open titles. May the best player win…

Paris: Novak Djokovic is the World No 1, holds three major titles and is on a 27-match Grand Slam winning streak. Yet practically no one is giving him a chance of stopping Rafael Nadal in the French Open final on Sunday. “How discouraging it is to play Nadal on this surface?” asked American tennis great John McEnroe. “It’s going to be unbelievably tough to beat this guy. I know when (Bjorn) Borg played in my day he was like the human backboard. He was faster than everyone, fitter than everyone, and you couldn’t get a ball by the guy.” If Djokovic wants to avoid a panic attack or tie himself up in knots just 24 hours before the men’s final, he will have to find a way to wipe out the memory bank labelled Nadal. The Serbian has already admitted he was “really not good with numbers” and even thought Nadal “has lost what, two matches in his career here?”. For the record Nadal has lost just once since his 2005 debut, to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009, and will be going for a seventh title on Sunday. The other numbers make gr im reading for Djokovic. Na dal has a 51-1 win-loss record at Roland Garros and has dropped just 35 games to reach the final here, which is the fewest games he has ever lost en route to a Grand Slam final He is the first man in the Open Era to reach five Grand Slam finals without dropping a set. Ominously, on each occasion he has gone on to win the title. Nadal leads Djokovic 11-2 on clay and has won eve ry set they have contested here. But what Djokovic lacks in tactics, he more than makes up with his heart and sheer belief. It was that belief that allowed him to escape two match points against Roger Federer in the US Open semifinals last year. It was that belief that allowed him to dodge four match points against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals here. It is that belief that he hopes will make him the first man in 43 years to win four majors in a row, and condemn Nadal to an unwan ted record as the first man to lose four straight Grand Slam finals in the Open Era.