I don't know when it became apparent that there's no end in sight for how ridiculous a run Rafael Nadal was going to put at the French Open. I remember when he won his fourth title in 2008, after hammering Federer 6-1 6-3 6-0, we thought maybe he could win 10. The next year, he lost for the first time there, he was seriously injured for the first time, and we thought ten may be way too optimistic.
Instead, he wins twelve, and there doesn't seem to be anything stopping him from piling up more.
I remember writing about Nadal's dominance at this event in 2014, when he won his fifth straight title and ninth overall (that was after winning four in a row previously). I wrote about it again in 2017 after he won it for a ludicrous 10th time, a win where the French Open pulled out all the stops in celebrating him. Well? He won it the next two years just for sport.
If anything, his dominance is just growing. Dominic Thiem challenged him to a degree no one has done in the surface aside from Djokovic maybe ever. There truly was a moment after the second set where it was reasonable to think if Thiem would win.
Then Nadal decided to revert to 2008 Federer Thrashing form, winning twelve of the last fourteen games, barely losing a point, dominating the world's second best player in a way he's so thoroughly dominated all the other world's second (or third or fourth) best clay court players. It was harrowing if it weren't beautiful.
Rafael Nadal is a clay court specialist. Of course, he's won six other majors, made eight other finals outside Roland Garros, and would have a Top-20 career had he never decided to play a clay court match. But when you are so bonkers good on a surface, maybe we should define a new term than 'clay court specialist.'
What's the most interesting aspect to Nadal's endless dominance is how it hasn't slowed down has he's become a very different player. Pull up the highlights of his 2007 French Open win and he's a staggeringly different player. He jackrabbits around the court, playing defense until Federer made a mistake or he could pass Fed when he tried to come in. He spun his serve in just to start a point. He had ludicrous anticipation and speed. None of that is true today. He developed the rest of his game to compete at those other slams. Somehow he stayed just as good on clay.
We will never see anything like this again. In any sport. On any surface or event. The numbers are ludicrous. Forget the 93-2 record, it's the bonkers amount of times he's won matches without dropping a set.
Put it this way, in this tournament he lost two sets. That would rank as just his SEVENTH BEST FRENCH OPEN PERFORMANCE. He didn't lose a set in 2008, 2010 and 2017, and he lost just one set in 2007, 2012 and 2018. Again, this tournament in which he lost two sets, humiliated a Top-10 player in Kei Nishikori, easily swept aside Roger Federer, and won the last two sets 6-1 6-1, was a bottom half French Open performance.
Saying he's the best clay court player ever barely describes it. There are no words to describe it. We are living through it, and more often than not giving it a tremendous amount of attention, plaudits and praise, and we are all so underreporting his greatness on the surface. I hope we realize just how amazing this all is.
Rafael Nadal on Clay is thre greatest sporting achievement maybe ever. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen. God only knows how many more incredible fortnights he has on Court Philippe Chatrier and on that beautiful red clay.
