Rafael Nadal defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 to win the Italian Open on Sunday. It was Nadal’s 9th Italian Open title and 34th Master’s title.

Though Djokovic put up a fight in the second set, it was a great win for Nadal. He had a sub-par clay court season until today but he was able to find his game this week and has the momentum going to Roland Garros.

Nadal won a bagel set against every opponent this week except Stefanos Tsitsipas. That tells you about the kind of week Nadal had. And he honestly needed this. In previous tournaments, Nadal left his shots hanging short in the court, giving his opponents an opportunity to finish the points.

Does this make him for the favorite for the French Open?

Not necessarily. He will have hands full with Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas. All of them have a chance but it is hard to see anyone beating Nadal over 5 sets.

Nadal is getting older and this clay-court season has been a struggle for him. But definitely don’t count him out. The King of Clay is still the one to beat.

Under increasing pressure from current and former players, Justin Gimelstob stepped down from ATP board of directors effective immediately.

Gimelstob, a former ATP Tour player, coach and tennis commentator, was arrested in November for an attack on Oct. 31 in Los Angeles on Randall Kaplan, a venture capitalist.

The ATP board voted not to remove Gimelstob in December 2018, but the calls for his resignation grew louder after last week’s court hearing where Gimelstob pleaded no contest to a felony battery charge that the presiding judge Upinder S. Kalra reduced to a misdemeanor. Gimelstob was sentenced to three years’ probation and 60 days of community labor, and ordered to complete 52 weeks of anger management instruction.

Gimelstob said: “I’m stepping down because my job is to work on the sport’s behalf and the players’ behalf, and in my situation I’ve become too much of a distraction and a liability. I take responsibility for that, and I take responsibility for the mistakes I made Halloween night.”

Andy Murray, Stan Warwinka and several other current and former players had called for Gimelstob to step down.

Brad Gilbert and Tim Moyette have announced that they will run for Gimelstob’s seat. The election is set for May 14 in Rome.