Even the greatest have setbacks. It is how they respond that makes them great. Take your chances, forget the lapses. The triumvirate who ruled men’s tennis this century – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – each won just 54 per cent of the points they played. It was about turning it on when it counted.
No one could turn it on like Nadal on Parisian clay. The orange brick dust of Roland Garros on which he slid and scampered so well seemed to inspire the Spaniard with magical powers. From 19 visits to the French Open, he returned to Mallorca only five times without the Coupe des Mousquetaires – and once was due to injury. No performer was so suited to a stage.
Had Nadal never won a major in Paris, his eight titles at Wimbledon and on the hard courts of New York and Melbourne would still have put him among history’s elite – beside such names as Agassi, Conners and Lendl – but the king of clay’s 14 French crowns were a dominance of one event that none has come close to matching. He won four of them without dropping a set all tournament.
In 2017, Nadal lost just 35 games in seven rounds. But perhaps the greatest moment came in 2008 when he won his fourth title by demolishing Federer in the final 6-1, 6-3, 6-0. The world number one didn’t play badly; Nadal was just much better. Afterwards, Toni Nadal, the uncle who had coached him from the age of three, appeared disappointed. ‘It’s more beautiful when it’s hard,’ he sighed.
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