No man had ever won any single Grand Slam event more than seven times, until Nadal won his eighth French Open title last year.
This year, some people were doubting that he would be able to get his ninth.
But you have to wonder why there were so many who doubted this, given this man's mastery of the clay court surface, particularly at Roland Garros, where he has lost only one match in the last ten tournaments - and that was largely due to an injury that he sustained!
The man is very nearly impossible to beat on the clay courts of the French Open. Time and again, the best of the best in the sport rise on the surface to challenge him, and time and again, he beats them back, wears them down.
Nadal lost the first set to Djokovic yesterday, on a muggy Sunday afternoon in Paris. He also lost to Federer back in the days when those two men continually met at the French Open.
Djokovic is beginning to resemble Roger Federer during his greatest, most dominant era, with 20 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals appearances, and by continually accumulating more and more titles, including Grand Slam championships. But Djokovic is beginning is beginning to look a bit like Federer in another way, too - he just cannot beat Nadal with any degree of consistency, and particularly on the clay courts.
True, he won against Nadal last month on clay, but that was a best of three sets affair. In a five set match, and at Roland Garros, it is another matter entirely.
And with Djokovic feeling noticeably ill, Nadal was able, once again, to outlast a great opponent and wear him down with each masterful stroke, on the red clay surface underneath the hot Parisian sun, until eventually, Rafa was able to take the title, winning it, rather unfortunately, on match point, when Novak Djokovic double faulted.
But Nadal obviously earned this one, much like he did the previous eight French Opens that he has won. His mastery on this surface is unlike anything that any other male tennis player has achieved, seemingly being untouchable on the clay.
Winning a Grand Slam title is always sweet, but Nadal's victory yesterday in Paris was particularly significant for various reasons. With his ninth overall French Open Championship, a new record for men with unprecedented success at any one particular Grand Slam event, Nadal now ties Pete Sampras with a 14th overall Grand Slam, and trails only Roger Federer, who holds the record for most Grand Slam victories in men's history with 17 overall. Nadal also reached his 20th Grand Slam Final, surpassing Ivan Lendl in that category, and once again, trailing only Roger Federer, who overall, reached 24 Grand Slam Finals. Finally, Nadal further strengthened his number one ranking going into the second half of what is looking like a banner year for Nadal. He also has the still rare distinction of being one of only seven men in tennis history to have won all four Grand Slam championships at some point in his career, and one of two men (Andre Agassi being the other) to have won what is called the "Golden Slam", winning all four majors, as well as an Olympic Gold Medal). Nadal also became the first man in tennis history to have won Grand Slam events in ten consecutive years. The most anyone else had managed to do was eight, with Federer, Sampras, and Borg managing the feat before. Nadal now has won at least one Grand Slam event in each of the last ten years, placing him alone atop the men's field in history!
When you compare what Rafael Nadal has accomplished on the tennis court with what other greats in the game have accomplished, you increasingly get the sense that Nadal really seems to have a chance to win any tie-breaker imaginable. Roger Federer won more Grand Slam titles, the only man to have done so. And Pete Sampras also won fourteen Grand Slam championships. Both Federer and Sampras spent more time as the number one ranked man, especially in terms of ending calendar years atop the rankings.
If you look at those statistics, you might think that they favor those two guys over Nadal, until you remember that Nadal has a solid, winning record head-to-head against Federer. He is a bit younger than Federer, and so you could argue that Nadal was not quite yet at the peak of his power at the same time that Federer was, or not at last at the beginning of the era where Federer enjoyed unprecedented dominance and mastery of the sport. Everyone seemed to assume that Federer was better, and it was only a matter of time until he broke through at the French to defeat Nadal. But, it never happened. Remember that Federer's one, and only, French Open championship came the year that Nadal was injured, in 2009. Like Djokovic, while Federer can boast of that rare feat of having beaten Nadal on the clay, he cannot boast of having beaten him on the clay in a five set match. Nadal, however, wound up beating Federer in what was considered Federer's specialty: grass courts, defeating him in one of the most memorable tennis matches in history (most people would consider it the greatest tennis match ever)! He also beat Federer in the hard courts of the Australian Open, showing that he could, and did, beat Federer on every surface. The one man that Federer never mastered at any point in his career was Nadal, and that means that if Nadal (big "if", admittedly) does wind up winning as many, or perhaps more, Grand Slam titles than Federer, how can a serious argument be made that Federer was greater than Nadal? True, Federer's mstery of the sport, at his very peak, was beyond anything, including Nadal, managed to do for as long as Federer did it. But still, it could be argued that Nadal was not really yet one the scene during that time.
Than we can take a look at Sampras. Yes, he won fourteen Grand Slam championships, and that is an epic, historical accomplishment. But in the case of both Federer and Nadal, they won all four Grand Slam events, on all the different surfaces. Federer outright won more Grand Slam titles, and was ranked number one for longer than Sampras ever was, and Federer stayed on top consecutively for longer than Sampras ever did, as well. As for Nadal, he won on all of the major surfaces, and he has won at least one slam per year for ten consecutive years. Plus, he is not done. If I had to place a bet, I would put everything I have that Nadal will surpass (and I think he will far surpass) Pete Sampras's fourteen slams overall. In the case of Sampras, just like Federer, his real mastery came on the grass courts of Wimbledon. But he won seven titles there, compared with Nadal's nine French Open titles. Also, Sampras had one major, major rival (and only one) that could be argued to be relatively on his level of play: Andre Agassi. In the case of Nadal (and Federer, too), you can argue that they each had to face two (and possibly more, if Murray steps up) rivals of relatively equal caliber: each other, and Novak Djokovic. Also, Pete Sampras lost on the grass courts at Wimbledon quite a few times, while Nadal, who so far is still close to peak strength, has lost at the French Open only once. True, Sampras was ranked number one for longer overall, and still holds the record for most total (and all consecutive) years ending as the top ranked male tennis player. But Nadal is not done yet, either. And again, he had more elite rivals to contend with, and more consistently, to boot!
All of these things, and perhaps more, strongly suggest that Rafael Nadal has made a great case for being considered the greatest men's tennis player in history - and he's not done yet! Not by a long shot!
It is looking more and more like Nadal is fully capable of perhaps not only tying, but quite possibly eclipsing Federer's Grand Slam record. It is also looking more and more like Nadal is making the strongest case possible in securing his place as the very greatest tennis player in history!
Now, that's an accomplishment to celebrate, as tennis begins to shift it's attention away from clay, and onto grass, where Nadal has already won two previous Wimbledon titles.
Here is a nicely written article about Nadal's huge win at Roland Garros yesterday:
Nadal tops Djokovic: 9th French Open, 14th major By HOWARD FENDRICH (AP Tennis Writer) June 8, 2014:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/french-open-final-djokovic-wins-140454280--ten.html
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