In May of 2005, 18-year-old Rafael Nadal stepped on the court for the Rome final. Across the net stood Guillermo Coria — the same Coria who had a heartbreaking loss to Argentine countryman and sworn enemy Gaston Gaudio the year before at the French Open.Â
Coria surely thought there would be plenty of time. Time to make amends for choking away the most important clay-court tournament in the world, time to pocket a few Roland Garros titles. There wasn’t. No time, no French Opens. There weren’t even any more titles after 2005. There was only Nadal.Â
I’m not exaggerating. In 2005, Rafa absolutely devoured clay-court tennis — ate it whole in one giant gulp. He won five clay-court titles in the lead-up to Roland Garros in 2005. He had already dispatched Coria in Monte-Carlo…but the Rome final that year was something else entirely. It was a portent of who and what Rafa would become.Â
Coria was up a break in the fifth set (Masters finals were best-of-five back then) with a chance to go up 4-0. Nadal, who had played an absurd amount of tennis going into the tournament, actually looked tired. And yet…Nadal. He didn’t really “do” tired. Oh, I’m sure he got tired…but succumb? Hardly. The Spaniard clawed his way back into the match, eventually outlasting Coria 7-6(6) in the fifth set in five grueling hours.
It was a match for the ages. If not for a dozen other “best of all time” matches that Nadal donated to the annals of tennis history, this one would definitely make the list. More to the point, however, it was THE moment. That point in time where anyone watching tennis knew instinctively that they were watching a force of nature. Or I thought I knew, anyway. I can’t claim I foresaw exactly what he would become. How could I?
Clay-court tennis was never the same. Coria and Gaudio were never the same. At this point, the tennis world is accustomed to the record-setting by the greatest generation of tennis players of all time (Sorry. I LOVE John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, but folks…they ain’t it). However, even among his rarefied peers, Nadal’s level of sustained dominance on clay is unprecedented – not just in tennis, but in sport overall.Â
There were 63 clay-court titles and a staggering 14 French Opens. FOURTEEN titles at the same event! The next closest male player is Rafael Nadal (11 in Monte-Carlo), Rafael Nadal (11 in Barcelona), Novak Djokovic (10 at the Australian Open), and Rafael Nadal (10 in Rome).
What possible chance did a mortal like Guillermo Coria have against all of that?
Coria vs. Gaudio deserves its own blog
Those early Nadal era matches were fascinating. Fed v Rafa Rome 2006..
My father used to say Nadal just needed to stick a feather in his head band to complete the look. Called him The Apache. I guess in his days, Native Americans were often acted by Spanish people.
Personally I’m having an existential crisis over where the last 20 years went so quickly, just watching this.🙀 I distinctly remember watching Nadal playing as a teenager. He really stood out. And now he’s a baldie who limps around on sore feet, poor bloke. Tennis wasn’t kind to his body.😕
Great tennis in that match. Wow did young Nadal have reflexes. And Coria was excellent there too.
Rome has almost certainly produced the best quality tennis matches of any masters event – epic final between Djokovic and Alcaraz in Cincy notwithstanding.
what about Shanghai?