The tennis great refuses to wilt under pressure
It's not for nothing that Rafael Nadal is called the King of Clay. On June 9, he lifted the French Open crown for a record eighth time, registering a near facile win over his Spanish compatriot and 30-plus David Ferrer. When he had earlier equalled the legendary Bjorn Borg's figure of six French Open titles, the writing had come on the wall. His fans and tennis aficionados across the world waited for the day when he would match the all-time high of seven French Open titles by any player, which Chris Evert lloyd had to her name.
After he reached that milestone too, all that remained to be seen was whether Nadal would break away and create his very own record of eight titles at Roland Garros this year. The possibility had improved after his long-time rival and another tennis great Roger Federer lost his quarter-final match. The prospect of Nadal's victory in the final became even greater after the Spaniard disposed of the tough and higher-ranked Novak Djokovic in an epic semi-final match. Many would believe that the ‘real final’ was his contest with Djokovic and that he had an easy time in the official final. That may be so, but it does not take away from Nadal's triumph and the sweat that came with it.
t must not be forgotten that in the earlier three matches which he played in this year's edition of the French Open, he had had to rally from behind. Even in the semi-final clash, he secured a victory only after enduring a gruelling fifth set that turned into a see-saw battle. In other words, he deserves every bit of the glory that has come his way since he took to the game and broke into the ranks of the top three tennis players on the Grand Slam circuit. To have retained a slot in that elite club for this long in the face of emerging competition from new talents is not an achievement that can be belittled.
Yet, as Nadal will realise, there is still a vast gap between him and, say, Federer. The latter is a master craftsman while Nadal relies more on brute power play. Federer is like the delicate Swiss cheese whose taste lingers long after it is eaten. While the legendary player, acknowledged as the best even by his contemporaries, has an enviable 17 Gram Slam titles to his credit, Nadal for all his recent triumphs is far behind with 12 such trophies. Clearly, he has some catching up to do, and there is no certainty that he will eventually.
After all, Federer is not done yet and may well add to those formidable numbers. Age is no doubt catching up with Federer, and there is also the fact that, after scaling virtually every height in the game of tennis, he may have little left by way of motivation. But to write him off before he decides to quit is a mistake that his competitors will not make. Indeed, it is players like Federer that propel the likes of Nadal and Djokovic to continue raising the bar of their games.