Rafael Nadal has become the first player to win a Grand Slam eight times after a straight-sets French Open final victory against David Ferrer.

Following his four hours and 37 minute marathon match with Novak Djokovic on Friday, the Spaniard enjoyed a straightforward defeat of his compatriot at Roland Garros, winning 6-3 6-2 6-3.

It was Nadal's third straight-sets final win in a French Open final after his 2008 and 2010 eviscerations of Roger Federer and Robin Söderling.

Nadal, 27, has lost just once at the French Open in his nine years at the clay court major, Söderling in 2009.

After last year's shock Wimbledon loss to Lukas Rosol signalled a seven-month injury lay-off, the Coupe des Mousquetaires triumph re-emphasises Nadal's sensational comeback.

The 12-time major winner said his enforced hiatus made the victory sweeter.

"It's one of the most special ones. Last year, we had a low moment and if the people, my family and my team, were not with me this would be impossible. All the messages I received gave me a very positive energy."

The final was dramatically interrupted in the second set by a masked protester carrying a flare who jumped onto Court Philippe Chatrier but was quickly tackled by security staff.

Nadl has won 44 matches and lost just twice this calendar year, claiming seven titles.

He will bid to win his third Wimbledon major later this month.

The French tennis Open final between Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer was interrupted when a flare wielding anti gay-marriage activist burst on to the court

The man, topless and wearing a mask, got within a few feet of Nadal before being swiftly wrestled to the ground by security and bundled into the side of the court.

Nadal was serving for the second set at the time in the match at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris.

He was shielded by a security guard as the incident was dealt with.

The crowd whistled and jeered obviously frustrated with the interruption.

In 1993 female tennis star, Monica Seles, was stabbed in the back by 39-year-old Gunter Parche who broke onto the court.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that men's professional tennis presently boasts one of its finest generations of players, and last Friday Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic produced a sporting contest of mammoth proportions at the French Open.

The levels the top players reach continue to rise. Let's remember that Roger Federer can claim to be the greatest player of all time and only a matter of years ago he was the best in the world. Despite having at least maintained this level, he now stands at three in the rankings.
As individual tennis players, the top four of Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal have an air of impenetrability, and it is remarkable that such players have all arrived at once.

Exceptional athletes, like David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Jo Wilfred Tsonga lie in their wake, and in other eras could have reaped greater rewards for their industry, receiving more attention than they currently do.

Friday's semi final contest was, aside from the hideous grunting with which the players persist, beguiling and thrilling. The dry and dusty clay courts at Roland Garros that the Spaniard clearly loves make for gruelling but crowd pleasing tennis. The slow paced reaction of the ball off the surface must make winning rallies seem like having teeth extracted, for the players that is. On hard courts hitting winners is usually a little easier, but having said that, with the supreme athletic ability which the players now regularly demonstrate, the rallies are often savage on all surfaces.

After four hours in sapping heat, both players showed stupendous mental fortitude, trading blow for blow with precise and powerful baseline tennis. Much of it was about who could respond, or whose belief would not waver during the deadlock, and in such brutal conditions, embroiled in combat and bereft of oxygen and energy, this is painfully tough.

I know this feeling only too well, where two players are so closely matched, and where it seems like winning each rally is an insurmountable task, and it often makes for the most fascinating sport.

Of course Nadal won the match but it would be too severe to say Djokovic was weak. The closest he came in the fifth set to weakness was through misjudging a volley, touching the net too early, giving Nadal the opportunity to break serve. Perhaps losing his cool with the umpire didn't help either.

An inspiring display from two tennis players at the peak of their powers, in one of the sport's big arenas. Sport to be celebrated.

James' book 'Shot and A Ghost' is available at willstrop.co.uk or on kindle

Rafael Nadal has reached his eighth French Open final in nine years after a five-set victory against world number one Novak Djokovic in a sensational semi-final.

The clay court king was in formidable form as he beat the Serb 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-7 9-7 in an engrossing, four hours and 37 minutes contest at Roland Garros.

Nadal now has the chance to become the first man in tennis history to win a Grand Slam title eight times, when he faces either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or David Ferrer on Sunday.

For Djokovic, the French Open remains an elusive trinket as he bids to become the eighth man to win all four majors.

Spaniard Nadal has now won 43 matches and lost just two times since his return to the tour in February after a seven-month injury lay-off.

Nadal broke Djokovic at 4-3 before holding serve to see out the opening set in a repeat of the 2012 final.

The indefatigable Djokovic responded brilliantly in the second, breaking Nadal twice to level the match in what was becoming an enthralling spectacle.

And it got better when Nadal produced a virtuoso display in the third, dismissing Djokovic 6-1 in 37 minutes.

He appeared to be closing in on victory when he broke Djokovic at 4-3 again in the fourth, however Djokovic responded comprehensively with a 15-40 win, hitting two superb winners, to tie the set at 5-5.

The match suddenly became edgy and at 5-5 Djokovic, serving at deuce, hit two unforced errors to gift Nadal a crucial break and to serve for the set.

But the seesaw theme continued as Nadal failed to hold when two points away from a final berth and Djokovic milked the acclaim of the Parisiens ahead of a tie-break duel in the sun.

Djokovic banished the memory of his pair of errors to take command immediately and beat Nadal 7-3 to set up a fifth.

With serving becoming less of an advantage, Djokovic broke Nadal immediately in what was a tentative opening game from the seven-time winner in Paris. Nadal's frustration with the crowd calling out during a rally advertised his anxiety against the Djokovic juggernaut.

The Australian Open champion held his nerve until an extraordinary eighth game when the match, it turned out, hinged on one moment.

At deuce, Djokovic lost a point by touching the net after hitting a winning smash to grant Nadal advantage. Djokovic hopelessly protested the decision with the umpire, and although he saved two break points, Nadal broke at the third time of asking to tie it at 4-4.

The longest set edged over the hour mark, with Nadal's Herculean hitting buoyed by the break while Djokovic regrouped and regained his ruthlessness to hold two service games and stay in the match.

Yet the moment arrived at the third time of asking when Djokovic was broken without winning a point in the 16th game of a final frenetic set.

Nadal's sole loss in the last eight years at Roland Garros remains his fourth-round surrender to Robin Söderling in 2009.

The football season has ended, but the ICC Champions Trophy got underway and the French Open entered its second week, while Usain Bolt was actually beaten on the track in Rome.

Here's the best sport pictures of the week...

British number one Andy Murray believes he is on track to appear at the Aegon Championships at the Queen's Club next week.

The 26-year-old is sitting out the French Open in a bid to improve a long-standing back problem, and has always been targeting the traditional Wimbledon warm-up tournament for his return.

With just a few days to go before the action begins at Queen's, he tweeted: "Barring no setbacks in the next couple of days I will be making an appearance at the club of the queen next week! #backontrack"

The Aegon Championships begin on Monday, exactly two weeks before the start of Wimbledon.

Murray recently revealed he had been living with the back problem for some time.

He told ESPN: "It's been tough, it's something I've been dealing with on and off for 18 months.

"It's worse on certain surfaces and in certain conditions and when it flares up it's tough to have it calm down.

"It has obviously been tough for me on the clay over the last couple of years. It's just something I have been having to deal with the last little while and hopefully it will get better."

By sitting out the French Open, Murray ended a run of three straight grand slam final appearances.

Being an MP is not all about writing to your constituents and shouting during Prime Minister's Questions.

The lobbying sting targeted at a Tory MP and three members of the House of Lords has thrown the focus on the murkier world of lobbying.

Transparency campaigners say it is time to clean up some of the 584 All Party Parliamentary Groups MPs and peers can sign up to.

Tamasin Cave, of Unlock Democracy, told The Huffington Post UK that while some were "harmless, or pointless", others were more concerning as they could be used as an easy way for lobbyists to get access to ministers.

Here's a selection taken entirely at random for you to judge:

Rafael Nadal has lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires on seven out of the eight times he has played at the French Open, and Roland Garros organisers treated one of the tournament's most decorated players with a birthday cake on Monday.

Nadal, who turned 27 on Monday, received a huge layered cake decorated with tennis rackets and balls on the court as he celebrated his birthday at Roland Garros for the eighth time.

The formidable clay court specialist brushed aside Kei Nishikori to reach the quarter-finals in Paris.

The seven-time champion has famously only once lost once at Roland Garros, to Robin Soderling in 2009, who was beaten by Roger Federer in the final.

The world number four won 6-4 6-1 6-3 over 13th seed Nishikori, striking his forehand with a lot more ferocity and moving better around the court.

The football season has still quite not ended but the showpiece occasion didn't disappoint as Bayern Munich edged out Borussia Dortmund in a vibrant Champions League final at Wembley.

Elsewhere, sunbathers were interrupted by racing drivers at the Monaco Grand Prix, England defied the rain at Headingley and the French Open got underway in sport pictures of the week...

Rafael Nadal insists tennis is a "very clean sport" but has called on governing bodies to make doping tests transparent.

The seven-time French Open champion came from a set down to defeat Daniel Brands in his opening-round encounter at Roland Garros on Monday, however his post-match press conference was dominated by the topic of doping.

"If you make the controls public and everybody can know how many controls that everybody has, then you are not going to have these questions because you will know how many controls we will have. That's my feeling," Nadal said.

Along with fellow professionals Andy Murray and Roger Federer, the Spaniard was dismayed by the Spanish courts decision to destroy 211 blood bags at the end of Operación Puerto in April.

Dr Eufemiano Fuentes was convicted over his role in supplying blood transfusions to sportsmen, which also included footballers, runners and tennis players, yet their identities were protected by the court.

Nadal stated transparency was essential.

"So why can we not make everything clean? Why can we not make everything public? Then we don't have to come here and ask if we are overtested or, you know, we are not tested enough," Nadal added.

"That's my feeling. Tennis is a very clean sport. We don't have a lot of cases of doping. And we are having a lot of controls."

Maria Sharapova has revealed her new Nike outfit for Roland Garros as she bids to defend her French Open title.

Sharapova made it a full set of Grand Slams in Paris last year when she finally emerged the victor on clay, eight years after her memorable Wimbledon win as a 17-year-old.

The French Open begins on Sunday and Sharapova has recovered from the illness which forced her to withdraw from the Rome Masters last week.

Serena Williams is favourite to reclaim the title she last won in 2010, having won her last four tournaments.

British number one Andy Murray has withdrawn from next week's French Open after failing to recover from a back injury he sustained at the Rome Masters.

Murray met with medical specialists on Monday and Tuesday to assess whether he would be able to take part in the second grand slam of the year at Roland Garros. And with the grass-court season and Wimbledon just weeks away, the world number two has elected to err on the side of caution and skip clay-court tennis' showpiece event.

"After consultation with his team and medical specialists, Andy has reluctantly withdrawn from the French Open and will instead focus on preparation for the grass court season," a statement said.

Murray added: "It's a really tough decision and I love playing in Paris, but after seeking medical advice, I am not fit to compete.

"Apologies to the organisers and thanks to everyone for the messages of support. Now my complete focus is on getting back on the court as soon as possible."

Murray offered a pessimistic assessment of his back problem after pulling out of his match against Marcel Granollers in Rome last Wednesday, stating he would be "very surprised" if he made it to Paris.

Murray struggled with the injury during the clay-court season in 2012 and revealed he has experienced pain on and off for the past 18 months.

The Scot had injections before Wimbledon last year that seemed to ease the problem but he revealed it got worse again in Madrid last week and his concerns were heightened by the fact it did not improve with rest.

The French Open begins next Sunday and Murray was keen to avoid aggravating the injury during the Roland Garros fortnight, on the basis that it could jeopardise his plans for the summer.

The 26-year-old reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals last year, losing to David Ferrer, before enjoying a glorious few months, reaching his first Wimbledon final, landing the Olympic gold medal at SW19, and triumphing at the US Open to win his first grand slam.

Laura Robson brushed aside an injury-hit Venus Williams 6-3 6-2 to set up a second round meeting with the American's sister Serena at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome today.

The British number one made light of difficult, blustery conditions to see off the former world number one, who was plainly struggling with the back injury that has blighted her season so far.

But it was a fine performance from the 19-year-old Robson, who showed no ill effects from her final set collapse against Ana Ivanovic last week which cost her a place in the Madrid quarter-finals.

Robson made a rocky start, serving two double-faults in her opening service game and saving two break points, but hit back to break Williams in the next game to take a 2-1 lead.

Williams, playing only her second clay-court event of the season following her return from injury, then double-faulted to hand Robson a double break.

The American had plenty of chances in the first set and spurned 10 break point opportunities before taking her 11th when Robson served for the set, only for Robson to immediately respond with her third break to take the opener.

Robson, whose contrasting week in Madrid last week also included a career-best win over world number four Agnieszka Radwanska, was in dominant form and continued her good form into the second.

With Williams beginning to struggle, Robson looked set to blaze home, breaking twice to go 5-1 up, but had to wait for her victory as Williams briefly rallied to claw one break back.

But there was no repeat of the nerves that had afflicted her against Ivanovic as Robson took advantage of her third match point chance on the Williams serve with a big backhand to wrap up an excellent win.

Robson will now face world number one Serena, who was watching from the stands, in round two.

Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich will contest the first all-German European Cup final after their defeat of the Spanish giants, while Chelsea's chances of lifting silverware this season remain alive as they look forward to the Europa League final in Amsterdam.

Further afield, and Ye Wo-cheng became the youngest golfer on the European Tour at the age of 12, Sam Warburton became the youngest captain of the British and Irish Lions while the rugby World Cup will be staged at nine football stadiums in 2015.

They all feature in the sport pictures of the week...