French Open 2020: Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal He is aiming for his 13th Stade Roland Garros title at the 2020 French Open. In new, probably more difficult conditions for him.

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The basic bass world champion was back in top form. Rafael Nadal, the champion also blatantly understated, had the usual derogatory, reassuring and humiliating phrases in his luggage when he appeared in the usual media buzz the weekend before the first Roland Garros rallies. The 2020 French Open? “Never so difficult.” The appointment next fall? “It’s very, very cold. It’s going to be an extreme challenge. ” The new balls? “Too difficult. A big disadvantage for me.” Your favorite role? “There is none. For me it will be the most difficult path to the title.

Nadal never sounds like the man he really is. Even after twelve successful trophy missions under the Eiffel Tower, the now 34-year-old matador prefers to calm down by minimizing his chances and prospects. But even in this very special year, in which the world of tennis and the world in general is turned upside down, there is no way to avoid it in the freestyle of the king of clay, the best player in the special discipline of this sport. . “Rafa comes first, then nothing comes for a long, long time. And then there are others who can win the title, ”says Dominic Thiem. The 27-year-old Austrian is not just any player in the professional tennis market who makes his assessment. But the current winner of the US Open. And the man who, according to general industry assessments, is Nadal’s pleasant heir when it comes to sliding games.

Nadal most recently with a hat trick for the title

19 years after winning the first five points in the world rankings at the ATP tournament in Seville, Nadal has become the most powerful clay court player of all time. No professional has dominated a single Grand Slam competition like the muscular Mallorcan the French Open, winning 93 of 95 matches at Stade Roland Garros in the west of the French capital. Beyond his 30th birthday, he recently made a clean hat-trick, with final wins over Stan Wawrinka (2017) and Thiem (2018 and 2019).

In 2020, under the challenging conditions of Corona, Nadal’s bid for the next win could be more difficult. But even after his not entirely unexpected mistake in Rome, the quarter-final loss to the rambunctious Argentine Diego Schwartzman, he remains the big favorite, mostly because of the best-of-five mode in Grand Slam competitions. “As long as Nadal plays tennis in Paris, there will be nothing more difficult in tennis than to beat him there with three winning sets,” says two-time French Open winner Jim Courier (USA). What turned out to be a disadvantage in Rome, the lack of competition practice and the prolonged break from the tournament, could still prove to be an advantage in Paris, with the expected long and tough discussions on the difficult courts of autumn.

Give up the Grand Slam bubble in New York

Nadal had been detained for about 200 days in the wake of the corona pandemic and after the lockdown he withdrew from the public as much as possible for professional tennis, not much was heard or seen from him. And when you looked at how others stumbled from scandals to trouble and were embarrassed, this silence around the fighter, who was only loud on the court, was also very beneficial. The Mallorcan then responded to the dating mess in late summer and autumn in his own way: although he was about to defend his title at the US Open in New York, he decided not to travel into the unknown, to the Grand Slam bubble. He justified the decision with the “caution” he wanted to exercise in view of the conditions in the United States. However, the real background was obvious: Nadal focused all his efforts on the Grand Slam in Paris, where he now hopes to have many better opportunities.

Since he lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the first time in 2005, at the age of 19, after beating Argentine Mariano Puerta in the final, the matador has become a horror and killjoy for entire generations of players under the Eiffel Tower. Nadal won four times in the final in Paris against the best opponent and friend of his career, Roger Federer. Paris 2020, now could also be a historic moment for Nadal: if he wins, he will draw with Federer for the first time in his career after the Grand Slam titles. Both would then have 20 trophies in their trophy cabinet, and for Nadal, unlike Federer, 39, the end of the hunt is not in sight.

Here is the men’s singles chart