Paris: Rain or shine, clay or mud, Sunday or Monday, Rafael Nadal rules Roland Garros.

The man they call “Rafa” won his record seventh French Open title Monday, returning a day after getting rained out to put the finishing touches on a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic. He denied Djokovic in his own run at history — the quest for the “Novak Slam.”

It was a 3-hour 50-minute match, spread over two days and filled with momentum swings, outbursts, testy exchanges with the officials and then, finally, a familiar closing act: Nadal, the second-seeded Spaniard, down on his knees, celebrating a title at a place that feels like home.

“I suffered,” Nadal said, “but I enjoyed.”

Wrapping up the match a few minutes after the match’s last rain shower stopped, Nadal broke the record he shared with Bjorn Borg, improved to 52-1 at the French Open and beat the man who had defeated him in the last three Slam finals.

“I don’t know if I am the best or not,” Nadal said. “I am not the right one to say that. The only thing is, I have probably one of the best results ever, probably in this kind of surface, and for me (that) is great.”

After serving his fourth double-fault of the match, the top-seeded Djokovic dropped his head, slumped his shoulders and walked slowly towards the net — an emotional two-day adventure complete, and not with the result he wanted.

He was trying to become the first man since Rod Laver, 43 years ago, to win four straight major titles. He came up short just as Roger Federer twice did in seeking four in a row — his pursuit also halted by Nadal at Roland Garros in 2006 and 2007.

Nadal won his 11th overall Grand Slam title, tying him with Borg and Laver for fourth among the all-time leaders.

Next up on Nadal’s list: Chris Evert? Yes. Before Monday, Evert was the only player, man or woman, to win seven titles at Roland Garros, and Nadal would break that record next if he wins No. 8.

“He’s definitely the best player in history on this surface and the results are showing that he’s one of the best-ever players to play this game,” Djokovic said.

A match with so much of tennis history riding on it proved awkward and frustrating for both players.

Unable to solve Nadal’s mastery of the clay, Djokovic was throwing rackets around early in the final. A bit later on Sunday, Nadal was complaining bitterly as the rain picked up, the tennis balls got heavy and officials refused to stop the match.

“The conditions were really unusual, too,” Nadal said. “The ball was heavier than ever. At the end, the bounces started to be bad... In my opinion, the conditions were much more favourable for Novak than for me. At the same time, I am playing against the best of the world, the best of the world with good conditions, probably, for him.”

But officials decided to call it a washout, setting up the first non-Sunday finish at the French Open since 1973, when Ilie Nastase wrapped up his title on a Tuesday.

“I said, ‘Good, we’ve had some luck. If we hadn’t stopped, we were going home,’” said Nadal’s uncle and coach, Toni Nadal. “Because Rafael was a bit blocked and Djokovic wasn’t missing any balls. He was hitting them all well. So we had some luck.”

“But I don’t find an excuse in that,” Djokovic said, speaking of the decision to halt play Sunday night. “The better player won today, so congratulations on that.”

“I’m not going back, saying it’s your fault and your fault because I lost,” Djokovic said, on the other hand. “It’s unfortunate because I was playing better, feeling better on the court in the third set on Sunday. Today (Monday), he started strong. I started slower. I was a little bit unfortunate in that first game and things turned around.”

On the restart, Nadal broke serve right away to tie the set at 2-2 and the frustrated Djokovic was back - slamming himself in the head with his racket after missing an easy forehand that gave Nadal the break point.

Play was nearly stopped with Nadal ahead 5-4 in the fourth, but the players sat under umbrellas for a few minutes while a rain shower passed, then they went back out. Both men held serve and Djokovic needed to hold once more trailing 6-5 to force a tiebreaker.

Nadal hit a big forehand winner to set up match point, and Djokovic, who had saved four of those in a quarter final win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, had no more magic. He double-faulted and dropped to 0-4 against Nadal at the French Open.

Nadal fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands, then clambered into the stands to hug his family. (Agencies)