Why Rafael Nadal's 14th French Open title might be his most special yet
When Rafael Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Roland Garros semifinal, many around the world, including his fans, thought his end could be near. Nadal, as he has throughout his career, was battling multiple injuries at the time.
Cut to a year later, Nadal has regained the French Open title while also adding another Australian Open crown to his trophy cabinet. The Spanish legend beat Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in Sunday's final to win a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam title and 14th Roland Garros victory.
This moment never gets old 🏆
All of Nadal's 14 French Open titles through the ages: https://t.co/4OQsB5TNon
This has in fact become a visible pattern with Nadal and the tennis world for many years. He loses a couple of tournaments, prompting fans and experts to write him off, and he comes back to win yet another Grand Slam. He now leads his rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who have 20 titles each, in the Slams race.
There's a chance that someone might surpass Nadal's 22 Grand Slam record, but the one that should stand test of time is his record 14 Roland Garros titles. The second player on the list of most titles in Paris in the Open Era is Swedish legend Bjorn Borg with 6. Djokovic and Federer have just won the French Open twice and once, respectively.
"To win Roland Garros one time, it's almost impossible. To win it five times, it is impossible. To win it ten times, I don't know the word," Boris Becker said in 2017, when Nadal won his 10th Roland Garros title.
The new World No. 4 has now lifted his 14th title in Paris at the age of 36 years and two days, becoming the oldest French Open winner in the Open Era. The record previously belonged to his compatriot Andres Gimeno, who was 34 years and 10 months old when he won it in 1972.
🗓 June 5th 🗓
17 years and 14 titles later...
@RafaelNadal #RolandGarros https://t.co/Xnwv8fPzvT
For the first time in his career, Rafael Nadal halfway to the Calendar Slam
Rafael Nadal won his first French Open at the age of 19 years in 2005. Since then, he has won 112 matches at the event and lost just three.
If you asked him to choose his favorite victory among the 14, he would refuse to answer, and rightly so. But there are multiple reasons why the 2022 Roland Garros title might be the best among the lot.
Since 2005, this was the first time that the Spaniard was not the outright favorite to win the tournament. By his own admission, this year's preparations before arriving in Paris were the worst ever in his career. Just 11 days before his first match at Roland Garros, the world saw Nadal limp off the court in Rome due to his chronic foot injury.
After the final, he pointed out another difficulty which was the tough draw that he got with players like Felix Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev in his group.
However, by winning the tournament, Rafael Nadal became only the third male player, after Mats Wilander and Roger Federer, to beat four Top-10 opponents at a Grand Slam.
One could very well argue that Nadal's 10th Roland Garros title in 2017 is the best of all since he returned after overcoming multiple injuries. 2015 and 2016 were probably the worst two years of the Spaniard's career as he could not win a single Major title during this period, which saw a number of tennis experts declare the end to Nadal's career. The Mallorcan paid no heed to such talk, and has won as many as eight Grand Slams since. After Sunday's win, he and Djokovic are the joint-record holders for the most number of Majors wins (8) since turning 30.
In his long and glorious career, this is the first time that the King Of Clay has won the first two Grand Slams of the year, giving him a shot at a Calendar Slam.
The last time a player won a Calendar Slam was way back in 1988, when Steffi Graf did it. The others who have achieved this are Don Budge (1937), Maureen Connolly Brinker (1953), Rod Laver (1962, 1969) and Margaret Court (1970).