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If Goliath hits the sand again: Rafael Nadal won the French Open for the twelfth time last year. Image: keystone
Nadal is the eternal Goliath, but in autumn David’s time could come
Although Rafael Nadal failed in the quarter-finals in Rome, the Spaniard is the number one title contender at Roland Garros, but the competition is hopeful. Not for Nadal, but for the fall.
He has been injured many times, he has struggled with himself and his body, he has lost in major tournaments to outright intruders, especially at Wimbledon, the tournament he won in 2008 and 2010, but which brought him no luck in the last decade. But after the French Open you could always set the clock. At the latest, when the match was played on the sand in Paris in the spring, Rafael Nadal was transformed back into this force of nature, which swept through his opponents like a hurricane.
In 2005, when he participated for the first time, the Spaniard won at Roland Garros. He only lost twice in Paris: in 2009 in the round of 16 against Robin Söderling, in 2015 in the quarter-finals against Novak Djokovic, and in 2016 he had to withdraw due to injury before the third round. He lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires 12 times, the last time three times in a row.
Nadal has won 59 of his 85 titles on clay and has celebrated 438 victories. In contrast, there are only 40 losses, 8 of which fall before their 18th birthday. If not? Victories, milestones and records of all ages. It takes an extraordinary performance from his opponent and a perhaps not-so-galactic performance from Nadal for the Spaniard to come off the field a loser on clay.
Saturday was another night like this, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals in Rome to Argentine Diego Schwartzman, world number 15. Although the 27-year-old later reached the final, where he also challenged Novak Djokovic, compared to Goliath Nadal is still a David, and not because of his 1.70 meters tall.
As always: There are no excuses with Rafael Nadal, but equanimity
Whoever wins as often as Nadal finds himself confronted with questions with each defeat: Nadal faces them with his own equanimity and a touch of laconism. “I can find excuses and excuses, but the truth is simple: it was not my night. Diego played very well, I didn’t. I accept that I did not play well enough. “Nadal had given up the trip to the United States and therefore also the defense of the title at the US Open. In Rome he played his first tournament since the end of February and the victory of the tournament in Acapulco Before traveling to Paris, he recharged the batteries in his native Majorca, because the seven-month break did not leave him completely unscathed.
The field of challengers is limited to two players: Novak Djokovic (33) and Dominic Thiem (27). With the tournament victory in Rome, the Serbian impressively demonstrated that disqualification at the US Open, where he hit a linesman with a ball, is unlikely to lead to a career breakdown.
After winning the final, Djokovic went so far as to say that he had not played his best tennis and that he would improve even more from Roland Garros. Djokovic also lost most of his matches with Nadal on clay (17), but has already beaten the Spaniard seven times on clay, more than anyone else. And besides Robin Söderling, he is the only player who could defeat Nadal in Paris. However, the latest success on sand dates back to May 2016 in Rome. Nadal won the last three games.
The last duel between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in Paris was in June 2015: Djokovic won in three sets. Bild: AP / AP
Cold and humidity are poison for Rafael Nadal’s play on clay
Dominic Thiem was in the Roland Garros final twice, but the Austrian lost to Nadal. Earlier in the year, Thiem defeated Nadal in the Australian Open quarter-finals and for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament. And he has already beaten the Spaniard four times on clay, the overall balance is 4: 8. In mid-September, the 27-year-old won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open, in the absence of defending champion Nadal.
He resigned from the tournaments in Rome and Hamburg after spending a month in the New York tennis “bubble”. Therefore, it is difficult to assess what caused success for him. Stan Wawrinka, for example, failed in his first Grand Slam tournament in 2014 after his first win in Melbourne in the opening round.
Djokovic and Thiem, who were addressed by the middle of Nadal’s table, draw hope from the weather conditions. Usually the French Open takes place in May and June, when the average temperature is 24 degrees. In October, this value was still 17 degrees. It will be cooler and more humid. The balls absorb moisture and therefore become heavier. As a result, they accept spin, spin less well, and jump less high than on a dry clay court.
Poison for the game of Nadal, who plays his forehand with up to 5000 rotations per minute. A fact that Djokovic also recorded. In Rome he said: “I’m sure Nadal doesn’t exactly prefer that. He loves when it’s hot and dry. “Nadal is a favorite,” but Diego has shown that he can also be beaten in the sand. “None of this is new. And in the end it was above all Rafael Nadal, the eternal Goliath, who triumphed. (bzbasel.ch)
