Life moves on. This simple yet enduring phrase is one that we often use to put the past behind. These are three words that hold true regardless of who you are or where you are from. Of course, depending on your circumstances and the course of events that shape your life, moving on will encompass entirely different things.

Following Sunday’s French Open final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, it’s clear that two men who were immersed in the same struggle seeking the same goal were left with polarized views of the match and their respective seasons.

After dropping the opening set, it looked like Rafael Nadal was well up against it. Having already lost to Novak Djokovic four times in a row, the Spaniard’s grip on the Coupe des Mousquetaires was slipping. At 5-5 in the second set, Djokovic could smell blood. He had already recovered the break that saw him go down 4-2 in the set and looked ready to insert the second dagger into Nadal. Ten minutes and one poor Djokovic service game later and Rafael Nadal had taken that dagger and the momentum that came with it, stealing the second set 7-5.

Nadal would go on to win the third and fourth sets 6-2 and 6-4. His invincibility factor at Roland Garros shined through once again. He stripped Djokovic’s confidence right out from under him, demoralizing a man who had only lost one set to him in four meetings over the last eight months.

If anyone had any doubts about whether defeating Rafael Nadal at the French Open is the most demanding challenge in all of sports, these doubts were in all likelihood erased on Sunday.

Nadal’s ambition and hunger were revealed in the discharge of emotion we witnessed after the last ball was struck. He fell to his knees and put his hands over his face, crying tears of pure elation. The back injury that derailed Nadal’s performance in the Australian Open finalwas a thing of the past. The upsets he suffered in Monte Carlo and Barcelona? Gone. When we look back at Nadal’s career, we won’t be talking about the hits he took earlier this spring, but rather about the overcoming of adversity and self-doubt that propelled him to his ninth French Open title.

Moving forward, Nadal has almost no points to defend at Wimbledon. The soft, lush green grass of SW19 hasn’t been so gentle and kind to Nadal over the last two years. In 2012, Nadal was stunned by Lukas Rosol in the second round and in 2013, Steve Darcis pulled off yet another colossal shocker, beating Nadal in straight sets in the first round.

Nadal’s pressure level will be much lower moving into Wimbledon. With the way his Australian Open ended, going home without a title in Paris would have been nothing short of a disaster. Considering how his knees have held up under the weight of low bounces and constant bending, it’s no surprise that the odds makers have both Djokovic and Andy Murray as bigger favorites than Nadal moving into Wimbledon. Doubting Nadal doesn’t usually accomplish much, though. As he proved in 2008 and 2010, winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year is more than doable.

For Novak Djokovic, the stress is undoubtedly accumulating. In his last six major finals, Djokovic has come out victorious only once. The form he’s bringing into the majors has seemingly evaporated when it counts the most—in the final. While going 1-5 in his last six Grand Slam finals, Djokovic has gone 6-0 in his last six Masters Series 1000 finals.

Djokovic did not lose a single match last year after losing in the US Open final to Nadal. He won in Beijing, Shanghai, Paris, and at the year-end championships in London. Along the way, he beat Stanislas Wawrinka twice, Nadal twice, and Roger Federer twice. When he reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in late January, he succumbed to Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets. Between the Australian Open and the French Open, Djokovic won in Indian Wells, Miami, and Rome, beating Federer in the final of Indian Wells and Nadal in the finals of Miami and Rome.

It’s a gruesome reality for Djokovic. He can perform flawlessly between majors and flawlessly in the first six rounds of Grand Slams. But if he can’t bring his best tennis to the seventh and final match at majors, it won’t be enough.

Djokovic’s main goal is to win the French Open. That’s an understood and well accepted truth. This doesn’t mean that he isn’t deeply perturbed by losing in the finals of other majors. Make no mistake about it:  Novak Djokovic is angry. Not only did he lose in the final of the French Open for the second time to the same opponent, but he did so from a set up. It was extremely unfortunate that his physical state was under 100 percent. Dealing with stomach issues and having to drink Pepsi in the middle of one of his career’s biggest matches must have been maddening.

Where does Djokovic go next? Well, the bigger picture isn’t too bleak for the Serb. Djokovic still possesses the most adaptable game of any player on the planet to any surface and any conditions. He’ll also probably enter Wimbledon as the favorite and will have a fine chance of usurping Nadal for the No. 1 ranking later this summer.

Every career has its peaks and troughs. While nothing in sports is guaranteed, someone would be hard-pressed to argue that Djokovic’s fortunes won’t turn around sometime in the near future. He’s just too good to keep himself out of the winner’s circle at Grand Slams.

2014 has already been a whirlwind of a year, and with the French Open behind us, there’s really no saying what’s going to happen next for Djokovic, Nadal, or anyone for that matter. So sit back, and relax, or if you’re being practical—strap up—because the ride is only going to get bumpier.