The saga had not yet ended when Rafael Nadal was already immortal. In May 2021, three years before the end of his career, made official on Thursday, October 10, at the age of 38, the Spaniard inaugurated a sculpture in the square in front of Roland-Garros, created by his compatriot Jordi Díez Fernández, looking in steel his legendary forehand “lasso”. From now on, he sets an absurd figure for eternity, which goes beyond the limits of tennis: fourteen coronations – between 2005 and 2022 –, relegating to memory the impassive Swede Björn Borg, whose six titles seemed like a long time ago. . out of reach.
The Porte d’Auteuil tournament will continue to be the symbol of Rafael Nadal’s (almost) absolute monarchy on earth, his kingdom. Even if this player’s territorial supremacy – standing, ironically, next to the sea – extended far beyond the French capital. On this surface, Mallorcan law was implacable. The devastating power of his elevation, this ability to create forward rotation, caused the ball to squirt excessively. His innate knowledge of sliding was unmatched.
For the rival, stunned by the left-hander’s infernal pace, the outcome was almost always fatal. “Playing against Nadal is a brutal experience. “In each ball the intensity is maximum, it has nothing to do with anyone, it is a monster.”summarized Richard Gasquet, in 2021. Born two weeks apart, Biterrois is well placed to know: in eighteen clashes on the professional circuit, he has never managed to beat him.
For a long time, a part of the public only saw him as a bull that galloped like crazy after every ball. The fault also lay with his supplier, who had dressed him up in the early years as a pirate with shorts, a tank top that showed off his swollen biceps, and a bandana that tamed his jet-black locks. But the most disconcerting thing about Nadal is that his rage and aggression on the court were inversely proportional to his nature off it, polite and reserved to the extreme.
Between the beginning of his Parisian reign in 2005, from his first participation, and its end nineteen years later, he only allowed four men – Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic and his young compatriot Carlos Alcaraz – to take over the Musketeers Cup. . On “his” clay, the Spaniard has 112 successes for four defeats (and a withdrawal due to injury in 2016 in the third round), or 96.4% of victories.
Memorable beatings
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