Relying on a more complete game than when he was in his prime, Rafael Nadal is challenging Roger Federer’s all-time record of 18 Grand Slam titles. The Fab Four are expected to provide great entertainment at Wimbledon.
PARIS – At the beginning of this year’s French Open, every player in the locker room agreed that Rafael Nadal was the overwhelming favorite to win the event. That same sentiment was also shared before Sunday’s final between the Spaniard and Stan Wawrinka, despite the Swiss’ perfect record in Grand Slam finals with three victories out of three championship matches that he contested.
The bookmakers’ odds were clearly in Nadal’s favor as well: Wawrinka’s win was paid 5-to-1. The bookmakers can usually make a profit when gamblers equally bet on both players, so it was evident that they tried to discourage gamblers from putting their money on Nadal and encourage them to bet on Wawrinka instead.
After Nadal saved a break point in the third game, the match was one-way traffic. Often serving at 125 MPH, Nadal only conceded 14 points in 12 service games. Rafa showed an outstanding physical condition throughout the entire two-week tournament, dropping only 35 games in 7 matches: This means that he only lost an average of 5 games per match, which is something that hasn’t happened in almost 40 years. We must go all the way back to 1978 when Bjorn Borg lost only 32 games in order to find an equally impressive record.
Nadal’s 10 French Open titles is even more impressive than Borg’s resume. The Swede captured 6 French Opens in the 1970s and early 1980s. With Sunday’s win, Rafa climbs back to world No. 2 for the first time since October 2014.
Wawrinka electrified the French crowd with a thrilling five-set encounter against Andy Murray in the semifinals and many wondered if the aftermath of that grueling match affected his lackluster performance in the final. Looking back at the tournament’s history, very rarely a runner up managed to win fewer games than Stan in the championship match: Gottfried won only 3 games against Vilas in 1977, Federer won 4 against Nadal in 2008, Vilas won 5 against Borg in 1978, Franulovic won 6 against Kodes in 1970 as well as Pilic against Nastase in 1973 and Verkerk against Ferrero in 2003.
At the end of the day, the women’s final won by Jelena Ostapenko was more entertaining than the men’s. Nevertheless, it is certainly not Nadal’s fault if he is much better than everyone else on clay courts. Since winning his first title at Roland Garros in 2005, he lost only two matches, one against Djokovic in the quarterfinals in 2015 and the other against Soderling in the round of 16 in 2009.
Former French Open finalist and Eurosport analyst Alex Corretja said: “This is the best Nadal that we have ever seen. In the past, he used to be a more defensive player and it could take him three hours to win three sets. Today he is much more aggressive, his backhand is much deeper and stronger and his serve is much faster. When he decides to charge the net, he always ends up winning the point.”
In his post-match press conference, Nadal thanked his uncle and coach Toni: “I would have never won at Roland Garros without him. He has been helping me since I was four years old. Today I served better than in the other matches, but I am not sure if this was my best match. At the beginning, both Stan and I were extremely nervous and I missed many forehands. After the first five games, I finally settled in the match and I played very well with my backhand. I think that my best match was against Basilashvili.”
At the beginning of his career, Rafa’s game wasn’t as complete as it is now. In the past, the Spaniard used to rely on his incredible defensive skills, while today he is a more aggressive baseliner and his serve is stronger and faster. Whenever he charges the net, he rarely loses a point as his volleys are top-notch.
“Now that Nadal has 15 Grand Slam titles to his name, I am sure that he will try to surpass Roger’s record at 18. We will see an incredible fight from both legends at Wimbledon this year,” Alex Corretja explained.
If Nadal hadn’t failed to capitalize on a 3-1 lead in the fifth set against Federer in this year’s Australian Open final, the gap between the two would be only one Grand Slam title. Rafa is five years younger than Roger and, to everyone’s surprise, he doesn’t seem weary at all: In the final against Wawrinka, he retrieved a few balls that seemed almost impossible to reach. Last year Nadal skipped Wimbledon due to one of his many injuries and this year he seems determined to turn his misfortune around despite being a little apprehensive: “I hope that my knee won’t cause me any problems on grass. The low bounces usually require some extreme knee bending. I reached five Wimbledon finals in my career and I feel that if I emerge unscathed from the first couple of rounds, I will have the opportunity to do really well this year.”
Nadal doesn’t seem particularly worried about equalling Roger’s record of 18 Grand Slams. He is also not obsessed by the No. 1 ranking: “If I keep posting good results, my ranking will certainly improve. We will see what happens in the second half of the season.”
The last time that Roger won the Australian Open and Rafa captured the French Open was in 2010. 7 years later with Roger at 36 years of age and Rafa at 31, the two “aliens” are even better and stronger than they used to be. Despite the loss, Wawrinka will be the new world No. 3, while Djokovic will slip to No. 4 for the first time since 2009.
With Roger, back in action during the grass court season, the Fab Four will certainly provide great entertainment. Hopefully none of them will have to face any tricky opponents in the early rounds at Wimbledon: If they all make it through to the second week, I am sure that we will have the opportunity to see a few epic matches.
I am not equally sure that the women’s tournament will be as fascinating, but it will be interesting to see whether Jelena Ostapenko can confirm what she did in Paris or she is only a one-hit wonder. The Latvian won the junior event at Wimbledon a few years ago, so she has the game to play well on grass.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
