Roland Garros the perfect venue for Nadal to be level best with Federer
In his astonishing straight-sets bludgeoning of Novak Djokovic on Sunday, Rafael Nadal unlocked many surreal achievements. He now owns 13 Roland Garros titles, 15 years after his first outing.
Nadal is the first man in history to win six grand slam titles over the age of 30, a level of longevity that must taste so sweet after years of hearing his game was too physical to last. His 100-2 winloss record at the event simply does not make any sense. Still, the subject was about Nadal joining Roger Federer on 20 major titles.
Federer himself recognised the significance of the achievement, and soon after Nadal had clinched the title he posted a long statement on social media welcoming Nadal to the 20-title club: “As my greatest rival over many years, I believe we have pushed each other to become better players,” he wrote. “Therefore, it is a true honour for me to congratulate him on his 20th Grand Slam victory ... I hope 20 is just another step on the continuing journey for both of us.”
Shortly after his win, Nadal struck a slightly different tone: “Win here means everything to me,” he said. “It’s not the moment, honest for me I don’t think today about the 20th [title], equalling Roger on this great number. For me, today is just a Roland Garros victory. Roland Garros means everything to me. I spent here most of the important moments in my tennis career, no doubt about that.”
Some will see Nadal’s words as falsely modest, pretending to brush away an achievement that deep down he desperately craves, but rather it just seems sensible. Tennis has reached an unprecedented moment that will likely never come again. Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Serena Williams, four of the greatest players to have ever lived, are deep into their careers and marking the final results that will define how their achievements are recorded in history. It is so easy to reduce them to numbers, to prioritise the act of record setting and over the effort. To lose sight of what makes winning tennis matches important.
What Nadal did against Djokovic on Sunday was a singularly astounding achievement. Djokovic had arrived in the final in some of the greatest form of his career, having won all 37 matches in 2020 that did not conclude with him accidentally striking a line judge with a ball. Nadal was in his second tournament since the tour suspension and his first had yielded an unconvincing one-sided defeat against Diego Schwartzman in Rome. He has spent much of the tournament just establishing a rhythm and building his level. He knew in the final that he could not afford to produce anything but his top level. Astonishingly, that is all he did.
There is a lifetime ahead to discuss the numbers and to debate who is the greatest, but Nadal and his contemporaries are towards the end of their careers, they will not compete for many more years and the ending can come at any time. Although their success and their presence have become normal over so many years of dominance, it will not be present for ever. A simple hope that the players are all able to enjoy the final years of their careers and that the fans are able to enjoy their players for the quality they have produced for so long, rather than only for the achievements that follow. It will all be over soon.
“I always say the same, that I would love to finish my career being the player with more grand slams,” said Nadal. “No doubt about that, no? But in the other hand I say: ‘OK, I have to do [it] my way.’
I did [it] my way during all my career. Worked well. I’m not going to be thinking all the time: ‘Novak have this one, Roger is winning the other one.’ You can’t be always unhappy because your neighbour has a bigger house than you or a bigger boat or a better phone. You have to live your personal life, no?”
While Nadal remained firmly in the moment, it seems that Djokovic was too taken by the discussions surrounding the matches. Despite all of Nadal’s historic achievements in Roland Garros, he admitted afterwards that he thought the conditions would favour him more and he was surprised by his rival’s level. He should not have been.
“He did surprise me with the way he was playing, the quality of tennis he was producing, the level,” Djokovic said.
“I mean, he’s phenomenal. He played a perfect match, especially in the first two sets.”