11-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal has returned back to the winner’s circle after what has been a turbulent past few months on the tour.
Prior to this week, the 32-year-old was yet to win a trophy in 2019. A rare occurrence for a player who has won more ATP titles on the clay than anybody else in the Open Era. Injury problems have hindered his preparation and a series of disappointing losses hampered his momentum.
Nadal’s title drought came to an end on Sunday in Rome. Taking on a lacklustre Novak Djokovic, the king of clay prevailed in three sets. Narrowing their head-to-head to 28-26 in Djokovic’s favour. Prior to the final, the Spaniard didn’t drop a set in four matches played.
“Finally, I have a title. For me, the most important thing is feeling myself playing well and feeling healthy, with the energy that I need. If that happens, experience is that I am going to fight for titles sooner or later.” Nadal said during his press conference on Sunday.
It hasn’t been a completely disastrous start to the clay season for the Spaniard. Prior to Rome, he reached the semi-finals at three consecutive tournaments. Nevertheless, perfectionist Nadal was far from contempt with his performances.
The turning point occurred back in April at the Barcelona Open. A tournament where their main stadium is named in Nadal’s honour. In his opening match, he narrowly avoided a shock loss to Leonardo Mayer. Coming through in three sets. Nadal was eventually knocked out of the tournament by Dominic Thiem.
“The first round in Barcelona, that was a disaster.” Nadal reflected. “The first match of Barcelona tournament was probably personally the match with less energy I played in my career. After that I came back to the hotel and just tried to think what’s going on and try to fix it inside me.’
“I woke up the next morning with a different energy. That’s what happened. After that moment I think I improved.”
Whilst gaining in confidence, 2019 has still been a very different clay-court season compared to others. At the most, Nadal will win two titles on the surface if he defends his title at Roland Garros. The lowest tally for him since 2016. The last time he didn’t win multiple ATP titles on the clay within a season was back in 2004.
The timing of Nadal’s latest triumph occurs exactly a week before the start of the French Open. A grand slam Nadal has dominated throughout the majority of his career. Whilst he is staying grounded about his chances, others has labelled him as the player to beat. Including rival Djokovic.
“Nadal, number one favourite, without a doubt, than everyone else.” Djokovic said with a grin in Rome.
Looking at the bigger picture, another major title may not be the biggest achievement for the world No.2 this year. For him it is his ability to return back to competing at the top of the men’s tour once again after being sidelined by injury.
“I worked hard to be where I am, mentally and physically, and in terms of tennis, too. That’s the victory. It is the work of every day, more than winning titles. The most important victory is the daily work and the motivation to be back.” He concluded.
