They came, they saw but never conquered and now Novak Djokovic is staring into the same Paris abyss that swallowed up the Grand Slam ambitions of Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker.
Paris: They came, they saw but never conquered and now Novak Djokovic is staring into the same Paris abyss that swallowed up the Grand Slam ambitions of Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker.
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The world number one lost his third final in four years at Roland Garros on Sunday when his hopes of becoming just the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam were swept away by Stan Wawrinka’s tide of killer one-handed backhands.
His 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 defeat left Djokovic on eight majors — five Australian Opens, two Wimbledons and a single US Open success — against eight defeats in finals at the majors.
Sampras won 14 major, but 13 times the great American tried to win the French Open and 13 times he failed. Edberg’s best Paris performance was runner-up to a teenage Michael Chang in 1989. Becker had to settle for three semi-final spots.