Rafael Nadal continues to add exclamation points to his record-setting career with a 13th title at Roland Garros.
Remember when everyone was bored with the European clay swing because Rafael Nadal kept winning Roland Garros? That was when he was at his sixth or seventh French Open. The clay season was soooo predictable. Hardly worth watching, they scoffed. They were waiting for Nadal to lose his edge so they could get back to Roland Garros B.N. (before Nadal)–when the likes of a Michael Chang or Gaston Gaudio could conceivably come out of nowhere and win a Grand Slam event.
Because, let’s face it, there is simply no way Nadal would ever, EVER suffer an Ivan Lendl-like meltdown. Chang cramps up and it’s Rafa on the other side of the net instead of Lendl? Chang’s staring down the ruthless Nadal forehand and a mercifully quick end to the match. There is simply no other possible outcome. And let’s not even talk about Guillermo Coria and his yips against Gaudio.
A decade ago, the King of Clay was consistently booed by the Parisienne fans. He worked too hard. He lacked elegance. Worst of all, he kept Roger Federer from winning the last thing he needed to win the career Grand Slam and cement his status as the greatest of all time.
Fast forward six or seven French Open titles, and the boredom is LONG gone, replaced by the sort of stunned, disbelieving fascination that’s usually prompted by witnessing something that shouldn’t be a thing, but is. Like a guy lifting five cinderblocks with his earlobes, or Tibetan monks using only meditation and their body heat to steam cold, wet sheets dry.
And it really shouldn’t be a thing, you know? It’s ridiculous. A 100-2 record is ridiculous. Thirteen titles at the most grueling tennis event on the calendar is ridiculous. Being that much better than that many players for that long is ridiculous. But maybe the most ridiculous thing of all is that after all of those matches, after Nadal is supposed to be winding down, tiring out, he just threw down some of the best clay-court tennis of his entire career to give Novak Djokovic the worst drubbing he’s ever suffered at a slam. Even the crowd in Paris has come around, clearly taking a “if you can’t beat him, join him” approach to the Spaniard.
Of course, there are still complaints from the pundits. They’ve morphed from “clay season is boring because Rafa” to a more generic “men’s tennis is boring because the Big 3.” They’re too dominant. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev can’t win when it counts. There have been 427 women’s slam champions while the men basically have the Big 3 plus Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka in the past two decades.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Iga Swiatek’s run in Paris. It was brilliant and inspired tennis and it made a great story. Certainly, I enjoy that the WTA produces surprise results. But the fact that men’s tennis is led by the three most dominant players of all time offers its own appeal. While it doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, history is rewritten at every…single….slam.
Put another way, it doesn’t make sense to complain about missing opportunities to discover fresh, new artists when you get to watch Matisse, Van Gogh, and Renoir create masterpieces in front of your eyes.
Enjoy Renoir while he’s still painting.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tennisworldusa.org/amp_tennis/news/Roger_Federer/92154/ivanisevic-djokovic-and-nadal-will-surpass-federer-s-grand-slam-titles-record-/
This guy just got a slap on his face as he said rafa has no chance against novak at french this year. It’s not even 2 days and he is again making tall claims. What is he…creature of habit? N from where is novak fav at usopen .he has lesser usopens than rafa too
Goran was like this as a player, too.
I couldn’t say, but perhaps this led to some complacency on the part of Novak coming into the final. Maybe he started to believe his own hype.
Don’t think so. Even Novak isn’t conceited enough to believe that Rafa at RG will be a pushover.
Djoker at AO will be a huge threat to win as long as he plays. There’s a comfort/confidence in coming back to a place where you’ve had so much success. Rafa feels it at RG, even with all the changes. I expect Roger has it at Wimbledon, even after last year’s bitter disappointment.
One of the big surprises on Sunday for me was Djokovic’s lack of emotion. No medical timeouts, no tirades, no racket smashing during one of the biggest whitewashes of his career. Has he finally gotten embarrassed by his on-court behaviors? While I deplore these things, I have come to believe that some form of emotional release is vital for him to play his best. Maybe he could try primal screaming?
I think he is trying to turn over a new leaf. He said he was seething inside during the SF against Tsitsipas even though he looked calm on the outside.
I don’t think venging rage on your racquet or on-court furniture makes any difference. It just tells your opponent that you are rattled. He smashed the Perrier bench during the 2012 RG final and still lost.
Cheryl, you are right. Djokovic believed the propaganda and failed miserably. His biggest weapon was the dropshot and that didn’t work out in the end.
Sanju, Goran is Goran, lol! I love the guy no matter what! He is in Novak’s camp now and is therefore entitled to his opinions. And peaceful Serbian/Croatian alliances cannot be a bad thing. But predicting the future was never Goran’s forte. However, I really think that he actually has a point! It would be a cosmic joke – but it’s not at all unlikely that Fed will finish as Nr.3 as far as the overall slam count is concerned! Rafa has already caught up with him, and just needs one more slam trophy, which he can get in eight months in Paris. This is not at all an unlikely scenario right now! And I wouldn’t exclude at all that Novak will manage to win four more slams. Granted, Novak’s job is a bit more difficult than Rafa’s who just needs another measly FO trophy. He can do it on his head if he is healthy and there are apparently no unfavorable conditions for him in Paris. But right now Novak is the best allrounder and will therefore have more chances, while Roger is in the worst position because he is by far the oldest of the trio and also had a health setback. I really cannot see him winning another slam – not even at Wimby. So, while Goran was completely wrong about the outcome of the FO final, he might very well be right as far as the overall slam count is concerned. And after his win on Sunday Rafa might actually be in the best position, while Novak missed two huge chances in the last few weeks.
As far as I am concerned I would be perfectly happy if the race ends in a three-way draw! None of the Big Three deserves to lose this race.
Joke going around 🙂
_Nadal was French Open Champion *In 2005*._
_Since then, Most of us got Married, had Kids , Struggled/grew in Our Respective Careers , Managed to get a Decent Earning , Gained Weight, Greyed Hair…_
_*This is 2020* and Nadal is still the French Open Champ 13 times over 🙂
Some People will Never Progress in this Life….. !
Sanju, if you ask me now, I don’t really think Novak will go over 20 Slams.
Nadal is a different story. He has a real chance at AO 2021 and then he can get at least one more RG. Of course, that’s not easy, but possible.
When you think about Novak’s slams, the way he won vs Thiem at AO, down match points vs Fed at USO and Wimbledon, he won more on edge than lost. 17 is an absolute stretch already. I don’t think he will surpass 20, but cheers to him if that will happen. I can of course be wrong. Winning a slam requires great sacrifices.
Exactly my thoughts Eugene and have been saying the same thing that everyone is overestimating what Novak can do. Thiem took him to 5 at AO his fav slam n had he stayed alert and not fallen for Novaks shenanigans of being dead on court , the title was his. Tsitsipas took him to 5 at FO and had he not got injury in 5th ( he has edema injury now ) , he would not have lost 61. Fed had no business losing that wimby final n it was his.
It takes a little from losing in 5 to converting to a win esp when others are younger n Novak is 33 plus now
It is going to get very tough for him now on
It won’t get easier for Rafa n Fed too to add any…it will be a struggle for all of them. 2021 may signal truly the change of guard as per me
One of my friend actually gave me an analogy – she is referring corona going away with change of guard in tennis
Sanju, I agree that the younger generation will catch up even more in the next season. Thiem was already very close to winning two slams. He can definitely challenge Novak on hardcourt and he did beat Rafa for the first time in a slam match at the AO. Novak surfs right now on his supreme mental strength but he isn’t as strong anymore as in 2016 or 2011, which is hardly surprising. He will be 34 next year. He isn’t that much younger than Rafa.
As I said already, I would be very surprised if Roger wins another slam. I truly think that he is done! And Rafa – who knows? One or maybe even two more FO titles are not untealistic, but he needs to stay healthy. And on clay Thiem might become more dangerous than Novak for Rafa. I was very glad that Sinner eliminated Thiem! I really don’t think that Rafa would’ve won in three against Thiem.
So, the guard is changing slowly. I don’t think we will see another season where the Big Three will grab all slam trophies.
Thanks, Cheryl.
Most of the ‘experts’ wanted another narrative that Rafa cannot win in a month with an ‘R’ in it so had he not won it, there would have been endless articles celebrating a new dawn telling us that his success at RG was purely down to getting the ball to bounce high to his opponent’s backhand and the weather has to be sunny for that to happen. On top of that, it was a new stadium with a roof; this would totally disorientate Rafa and to crown it all the ball was not to his liking. Take Rafa out of that comfort zone and he would be lost at RG.
99% of ‘experts’ predicted Djokovic would be kissing the trophy. I deliberately didn’t read Ricky’s Tournament Predictions until it was all over, because I fully expected him to pick Djokovic for the winner as was the case everywhere else. Kudos to Ricky for not jumping on the Djokovic bandwagon.
How Rafa deals with all the noises off is truly remarkable. Djokovic was walking on water from round 1. He was described as unbeatable, majestic, imperious, steamrolling his opponents all the way to the title. Rafa continued to o what he had to do – win his matches continuing to express his disappointment that the ball was too heavy for his spin that it was too cold for tennis whereas, Djokovic was telling everyone that he was confident, he loved the heavy ball and the slow conditions which suited his game style perfectly.
Santoro told us that Rafa couldn’t win. He said Djokovic hadn’t lost a match all year and he wasn’t going to start now. He said Djokovic was unbeatable. He said the only person who can beat Djokovic is Djokovic.
Djokovic’s coach, Goran, said:
“The conditions at the French Open have never been more challenging and Ivanisevic believes these current condition suit Djokovic better than Nadal.
I’m counting on Novak – Nadal in the final, in which, in my opinion, Nadal has no chance in these conditions, on this clay and with Novak, who has got into his head.”
Everyone and his wife was primed to see Djokovic kiss the trophy and Rafa’s performance leading up to the final was glossed over. Although, on the day of the final, a lot of the pundits were becoming more circumspect, because I think their predictions were based on the belief that Rafa wouldn’t even get that far.
Then Rafa delivered the most devastating rout Djokovic has ever suffered in a slam.
Vamos!
For a Rafan like me, this is heart-warming. Thank you.
Yes Nadline, you better preach. Preach it!! Thank you.
Sanju, rafa’s backhand was the most lethal I have ever seen with him. It was even better than his backhand in 2017 French final. He was creating so much power and ridiculous angles especially when going CC wit it. There was a point he won in the first 4/5 games in the first set where djokovic tried to attack his backhand and Rafa hit his backhand CC wit so much power and created such an angle with it and painting the line with it that it left Djokovic gasping for air. He was painting the lines with his backhand at will. His backhand was just as powerful as his forehand.
He’s net coverage was great especially with his drop shots. He gave djokovic a taste of his own medicine in that. There was a drop shot that basically slipped over the net to land on the court. No one could get to that drop shot.
He outsmarted djokovic. He came with a clear game plan and executed it perfectly eg he attacked Djokovics forehand relentlessly and exposed it as his weaker side and it crumbled under pressure. Similar to what he used to do to Federer’s backhand. He was hitting loopy forehands and using backhand slices pushing djokovic back and making him to generate his own pace.
He had so much variety, was very aggressive, was aggressively defending (which I haven’t seen from him in a while) and was hitting winners at will. When djokovic went on the attack, Rafa defended aggressively by pushing Djoko back behind the baseline. The placement of his serve was superb. He served out wide a lot generating several aces and errors from djokovic and thereby neutralizing Djokovic’s legendary return of serve.
Rafa had nerves of steel. He was a mental giant. In the 3rd set, djokovic threw the kitchen sink at him and broke back and yet Rafa was unfazed and relentlessly went after djokovics serve and forehand and kept him guessing and when he broke him in the end, instead of the usual dreaded being broken when serving for the set or match or championship or those usual struggles in that scenario, he served out the match at love with an ace. He was unflappable.
I repeat that it’s the best Rafa has ever played on any surface bc he had so much variety and was ultra aggressive and his backhand and ROS was the best I have yet seen from him. Nobody (let alone Rafa) has ever rattled djokovic like this. It wasn’t just the bagel, he left djokovic guessing and bewildered to the point Djoko didn’t know what to do bc the fluidity of rafa’s movement was sublime, he was everywhere and had an answer for everything and outsmarted Djoko comprehensively. 2017/2008 French open final Rafa could not rattle djokovic like this that Djoko did not know what to do that you kind of feel sorry for him. Ps his FHDTL and BHDTL was firing and causing Djoko problems but that’s nothing new.
Thanks Cheryl for another great article. Rafa’s performance was a masterpiece indeed. Poetry in motion.
Vamos Rafa
https://twitter.com/_markpetchey/status/1315329837259730945?s=20
The only saving grace in tennis is that matches are won on court not by points awarded by a panel of judges as in skating and gymnastics otherwise there would have been a lot of unjust outcomes.
Lol..Oh no, If it was like that, Fed would have 50 slams by now.. Rafa chasing the ball outside the court and hitting a clean winner from impossible position would have been ruled out as ugly attempt.
https://twitter.com/venkateshkris14/status/1315789082195238912?s=20
Rafa Nadal (2019):
“I don’t care if I’m the favourite,” he said. “I care about feeling well and playing well. The only favourite that matters is the one who has the cup at home in two weeks’ time.”
https://rafaelnadalfans.com/2019/05/24/rafael-nadal-i-dont-care-if-im-the-favourite-2019-roland-garros-french-open/
Rafa’s backhand was the most lethal I have ever seen with him. It was even better than his backhand in 2017 French final. He was creating so much power and ridiculous angles especially when going CC wit it. There was a point he won in the first 4/5 games in the first set where djokovic tried to attack his backhand and Rafa hit his backhand CC wit so much power and created such an angle with it and painting the line with it that it left Djokovic gasping for air. He was painting the lines with his backhand at will. His backhand was just as powerful as his forehand.
He’s net coverage was great especially with his drop shots. He gave djokovic a taste of his own medicine in that. There was a drop shot that basically slipped over the net to land on the court. No one could get to that drop shot.
He outsmarted djokovic. He came with a clear game plan and executed it perfectly eg he attacked Djokovics forehand relentlessly and exposed it as his weaker side and it crumbled under pressure. Similar to what he used to do to Federer’s backhand. He was hitting loopy forehands and using backhand slices pushing djokovic back and making him to generate his own pace.
He had so much variety, was very aggressive, was aggressively defending (which I haven’t seen from him in a while) and was hitting winners at will. When djokovic went on the attack, Rafa defended aggressively by pushing Djoko back behind the baseline. The placement of his serve was superb. He served out wide a lot generating several aces and errors from djokovic and thereby neutralizing Djokovic’s legendary return of serve.
Rafa had nerves of steel. He was a mental giant. In the 3rd set, djokovic threw the kitchen sink at him and broke back and yet Rafa was unfazed and relentlessly went after djokovics serve and forehand and kept him guessing and when he broke him in the end, instead of the usual dreaded being broken when serving for the set or match or championship or those usual struggles in that scenario, he served out the match at love with an ace. He was unflappable.
I repeat that it’s the best Rafa has ever played on any surface bc he had so much variety and was ultra aggressive and his backhand and ROS was the best I have yet seen from him. Nobody (let alone Rafa) has ever rattled djokovic like this. It wasn’t just the bagel, he left djokovic guessing and bewildered to the point Djoko didn’t know what to do bc the fluidity of rafa’s movement was sublime, he was everywhere and had an answer for everything and outsmarted Djoko comprehensively. 2017/2008 French open final Rafa could not rattle djokovic like this that Djoko did not know what to do that you kind of feel sorry for him. Ps his FHDTL and BHDTL was firing and causing Djoko problems but that’s nothing new.
Rafa was given the highest award in sports an athlete can receive in Spain.
From now on, he should be addressed as “Your Excellency Don Rafael Nadal Parera”. 🙂
https://twitter.com/genny_ss/status/1316007176603938817
So, be respectful, fans of His Excellency Don Rafael Nadal Parera! 🙂
Excellent news. Well deserved.
Vamos Your Excellency Don Rafael Nadal- the GOAT.
What an honour! Congratulations, Rafa. Well deserved.
Another great read from Cheryl. Brava!
I will never get tired of the big three. It’s been a remarkable golden era which we may never see again. I remember how exciting it was to see Rafa and Fed come on strong when Novak was having his problems a few years ago. Rafa came out of his own slump to get to the AO final and Fed won. Then Rafa won RG. Fed got Wimbledon and Rafa finished with a win at the USO. They were 1 and 2. It was great to see. Watching them adapt as they got older was also very satisfying. Their respect for each other was obvious.
I will never get tired of watching these great champions. Having watched this sport all my life, I know how truly special it is. We will not see their like again. The changing of the guard will inevitably come. But for now I just want to enjoy every single one of Rafa’s slam wins. For him to produce the quality of tennis that he did in the final, was beautiful. With everything against him, the virus, the weather conditions, the new roof, the new balls, he still triumphed.
I do think Novak might have been complacent. Believed his coach, who obviously does not truly get Rafa. Anyone who would say out loud that a player who has won 12 titles with a record of 99-2 had NO chance to win this time because of the conditions, is just plain ignorant. He showed himself to be an arrogant fool. Rafa has nothing left to prove. Yet he continues to show his extraordinary greatness again and again.
I could not be more grateful and proud to be his fan. It has truly been a privilege.
Nole came out his slump from Wimby-18 which was stolen from Rafa due to other semi.. I still feel sad about that match(along with AO heartbreaks 2012,2017)
Exactly same here .these are the 3 rafa losses that hurt most..
I disagree, the australian open 2014 is by far the worst of them all. That match traumatized me for weeks. Could not sleep for days. Watching Rafa injured and being booed By everybody and wawrinka acting a fool yelling at the umpire bc of Rafa was too much to take. And then to watch Rafa crying at his runner up speech at the trophy presentation was the final blow for me. I have never watched Rafa’s grand slam matches live since then and I never will. I only follow the scores and watch the repeat or record it or watch the highlights. Sorry my heart can’t endure it again. Sorry nothing was a worse loss than that imho.
Ps I have forgiven wawrinka for that after he beat Djoko at the French open final 2015, and US open final 2016, Lol.
I’ve never seen that match. I was sick so slept in intending to watch it on repeat. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the teletext. Needless to say I had no desire to watch any of it.
That match was about the only major final where I was convicted beforehand he would win and I have never dared relax again.
It was after that match that Rafa’s nerves started playing up…😠😠
convinced beforehand!
I absolutely agree about the 2014 AO being the worst. That one haunted me for a long time. The back injury popping up when it seemed that it was finally Rafa’s time. The horrible behavior of the crowd when they booed Rafa, egged on by Wawrinka.
The one image I could never forget was how the camera followed Rafa off the court after the trophy ceremony. He just put his face in his hands and started sobbing. I cried right along with him. It was just awful.
Thank you, Happy, for telling me your story on AO 14. It was my story, too. Until now, I close my eyes and I can still see Rafa’s awarding speech in my mind. Which is funny, because my eyes were blinded by tears, more copious than Rafa’s, then. I have only forgiven Warinka when he clapped and “swallowed” the ball returned by Rafa in RG finals of 2015.
Thanks Cheryl! Lovely piece..!😀
It isn’t Rafa’s losses that hurt the most. It’s the injuries that are devastating. Dealing with those just gets more difficult. How he does it, I’ll never know. Rafa can take losses without drama. As long as he played well, and produced a great match he’ll be almost as proud of the losses as of the great wins. And prouder of some of the losses than of some of the easy wins. That’s the way he’s built. I can’t emulate his attitude, for me it’s “just win”. But Rafa is what Jon Wertheim once called him: “a consummate professional”. His job is to produce great tennis and he takes pride in doing that so well.
Great article, Cheryl, and Rafa certainly is, in my book, “Your Excellency”!!!
NNY, yes the 2014 AO final was indeed awful for Rafafans. As others said, it was a match which he really should’ve won – even against this new and improved version of Wawrinka! Rafa had been playing very well – had just beat Fed convincingly in the semis, and at the time Wawrinka had never even won a set against Rafa. Wawrinka had taken out Rafa’s nemesis Novak, and there was no reason to think that Rafa would not win that final. Sampras, who has won 14 slams, had come all the way from LA in order to give Rafa his 14th slam trophy at the beginning of 2014 – if nothing unforseen would happen. Well, something unforseen did happen, and after this final Rafa went into an overall decline which lasted for quite a while. He still managed to win another FO in that season, but he seemed to have lost his joy for the game and the competition, as he admitted much later. It took three years – until the FO 2017 – before he would win another slam trophy! His only highlight was the win of the Doubles goldmedal 2016 in Rio! If someone had predicted back then that Rafa would regroup and and win seven more slams and tie Roger’s slam record, no one would’ve believed it. To be fair, no one would’ve predicted that Roger would come back, too, and win three more slams! Actually no one would’ve even thought that both, Roger and Rafa would still be active in 2020, and that the Big Three would be more dominant than ever!
So that’s why Rafa went into decline in 2014-7? Didnt know that.I wonder if the same thing will happen to Nole now, again, who had a similar decline starting almost after he won the Career Slam .Hard to fathom what going on in players heads sometimes. Nadals career nadir was probably losing early at Wimby to players he really shouldnt have.I wouldn’t begrudge him another deserved title on the grass before he retires .
If not injured, I think Nadal would have stopped Nole in FO 2016.. Also, mental Murray beat Wawrinka in other semi.. and as usual ended being runner up to Nole.
The RG final is up now! There’s a link to it from @sitanyusha’s twitter thread. I just watched the first game, appears to be from Eurosport and no commentary – which is a huge bonus in my book. Very nice quality too. For anyone that hasn’t seen it yet – or would like to see it again – grab it while you can!
https://www.tokyvideo.com/video/rafa-nadal-vs-novak-djokovic-2020-roland-garros-final-full-match
Its only the ladies now with more GS , Graff, Williams ,Court , i think they could match Graff, although Williams and Court might prove more difficult, hmm lets see, fun to speculate, just thought id throw this in for fun ….
Rafa playing Bercy
https://mobile.twitter.com/RafaelNadal/status/1318525934702559233
Oh really??? YESSS!!!… but… but…oh boy!.. I am always nervous when Rafa decided to play here!.. The changing of surface & it’s just 2 months away from AO!…
Where does this guy summon the motivation from🤠 just won his 20 th slam and is back to the grind on his least preferred surface
Beats me. My best guess is he doesn’t want to get out of training. Rafa had a real struggle to get back in top form after his pandemic layoff. Besides he really likes competing. But he clearly does not like “bubbling” any more than anyone else does. And maybe he wants another shot at the WTF as well as Bercy.
I think if you’re built like Rafa “least preferred” = “most challenging” and he *loves* a challenge.
I think this is a good decision – to keep playing Paris and maybe London. He’s full of energy, goes through a positive momentum and can add some points and his trophies. Why not?
Yes, good decision to continue playing, because he needs to regain his stamina after a long break. He looked like he was tiring during set three in the FO final, luckily he won in straight sets; should the match drag on into the fourth set, Djoko might be the physically fitter of the two and then began to gain the upper hand.
Regarding the changing of surface, I think changing from clay to HC is still not as bad as changing from clay to grass; three weeks of practicing on the HCs should be fine for him to get used to the HC surface again.
Qn: When Fed returns from injury, would they speed-up the AO courts just like they did in AO 2017? Venus and Fed reached final from out of nowhere.. and Fed won… If they manage to do again, Fed will be goat for some more time. It would be tough for Nole to reach 21.
Fed’s matches will also be scheduled at night or under the roof.
Federer *Grows up in an era of faster courts but plays in a time in which administrators have mostly kept courts relatively slow*
People who don’t like Federer: OmG iTs DiSgUsTiNg HoW ThEy KeEp HeLpInG fEd!
The idea that they sped up the courts for Fed is a joke. They would’ve been under no illusion that he’d win it even if it was played on the fastest court on tour. He’d had a six month injury layoff, hadn’t won a slam in almost five years and was a 25-1 outsider. As you say, he won it from nowhere, just like he won Wimbledon from nowhere on the same slower grass which has persisted since the early 2000s.
It’s because he had such a long layoff that he was able to work on his game – unfair advantage over other players who got thrashed in finals because they never had enough match practise due to layoff.
He did not thrash the 2017 finalist at AO..it was a very closely contested final