In honor of Rafael Nadal’s 34th birthday, we take a look at his 3 best French Open titles in his record-setting career, taking into account domination over the field and the hurdles he jumped to win.
Rafael Nadal is the undisputed King of Clay. WIth 12 Roland Garros titles, along with 11 at both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, the Spaniard walks into every tournament on the surface as the favorite and almost always walks away with the victory.
In honor of Nadal’s 34th birthday, we’re going to take a look at his 3 best performances from his 12 Roland Garros victories. We’ll take into account his dominance over the field in regards to sets won versus lost, as well as the hurdles he had to overcome to win the title in the given year.
1. 2005
There’s isn’t many victories better than the first. Nadal wasn’t able to compete in the 2004 tournament due to injury, but he certainly made up for it the year after. This tournament marked the beginning of a historic run over the next 15 years. 19-year-old Nadal was set to compete in his first appearance in Paris and his first appearance at a Grand Slam as a seeded player.
Nadal was regarded as the favorite, regardless of his inexperience in Paris. It obviously didn’t matter for the young Spaniard; he lost only 2 sets en route to the final, beat Richard Gasquet in a straight-sets quarterfinal victory, and handled #1 seed, Roger Federer, in 4 sets.
The World #2 entered the finals against unseeded Mariano Puerta. The two engaged in a tight first set, with Puerta taking it in a tiebreak. Nadal stormed back and took control of the match, winning the final three sets 6-1, 6-3, 7-5. It was the coming-out party for the young dirt star and marking the turning point in tennis. Roland Garros was no longer a tournament that could be won by many, but instead an event that will end the same way: A Nadal victory.
2. 2014
This is arguably Nadal’s most underrated Roland Garros title of his 12. Leading up to that point in the final, Nadal was victorious in 8 of 9 of his attempts at the event and was eying his fifth title in a row. Roger Federer was also aiming for a historical achievement of his own; winning this event would make him the only player in the Open Era to have achieved the double Career Grand Slam.
Nadal ripped through the draw, losing only one set (in the quarterfinals against Ferrer) and a total of 40 games in those 6 matches leading up to his finals bout against Djokovic. He dispatched a young Dominic Thiem in the 2nd Round, Ferrer in the quarters, and Murray in a dominating straight-sets semifinal victory (6-3, 6-2, 6-1). Federer bowed out in the 4th round to Ernest Gulbis in five sets. To this day, Federer hasn’t been able to capture a second title in Paris.
The 2014 final was a sweltering hot one. Both Djokovic and Nadal had run through their opponents leading up to the final and were set for an intense battle. Both were competing for the #1 ranking as the undisputed best players in the world. Djokovic started off well, winning the first set against the 8-time champion. Nadal quickly rebounded and took care of Djokovic in the next 3 sets, notching a somewhat comfortable victory 3–6, 7–5, 6–2, 6–4.
It was, more or less, the typical Nadal domination. Given that he’s only played two five-set matches in his entire Roland Garros career, it’s more of a shock that a match goes the distance instead of him beating another top player in 3 or 4 sets. What stands out in this final was not only the record-breaking 5th consecutive title but the matter in which he got in done.
“This was the French Open in which I’ve suffered the most physically,” Nadal said post-match. “There have been moments when I felt very empty, very tired. I don’t know what would’ve happened in the fifth set.”
Nadal was the most physically spent he’s ever been in a match and had been cramping for the entirety of the last two sets. As cramping isn’t really an injury that can be helped by the trainers on-site, Nadal opted to fight through his pain to win the match while he had momentum. If he had to go into a fifth set, it’s possible Nadal would’ve taken his second-ever loss in Paris.
“I was able to suffer and find solutions. I coped with the physically difficult moments with very high-quality tennis. In one way or another, I found a way to win this title.”
3. 2019
Fast-forwarding to the present, Nadal went into the last Roland Garros tournament as the 2-time defending champion but was ranked as the 2nd seed (Djokovic’s success in Australia and from the laster part of 2018 gave him the #1 ranking). He had been so-so on clay and only won one clay tournament during the season (in Rome). He hadn’t won only one clay tournament since 2015, where he was kept out of much of the season with knee injuries.
Nadal was still considered the favorite despite his #2 ranking. He cruised into the finals, only losing one set to David Goffin in the third round. He easily took care of 7th-seeded Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, and followed that up with a just-as-easy win over Federer in the semifinals (6-3, 6-4, 6-2).
After Thiem, the consensus future clay star, bested Djokovic in a tight 5-set semifinal, the two best clay-court players were set to face off against each other. Nadal struggled in the first two sets, winning the first but losing the second. Nadal turned on his second gear and absolutely dominated for the final two sets. During the 4th set (a 6-1 Nadal win), the King didn’t lose a single point on his serve. He dialed up the aggression of his serves and returns, and as a result, he captured 12 of the 16 points with rallies under 4 shots.
Nadal went to the net 14 times in the final two sets and won 13 of those points. His aggression left Thiem searching for answers, but none came for the young Austrian. It was Nadal’s longest Roland Garros final since the 2014 final against Djokovic. Not much has changed from his first championship to his most recent.
He’s the most dominant clay-court player ever, dispatched both the past and the future of clay stars, and could easily win a few more titles in Paris before his career ends.