Nadal completes full circle

Blasts past Stan Wawrinka 62, 63, 61 to win 10th title at Roland Garros, becomes first player to win 10 Grand Slam singles titles at the same meet in the Open era

PARIS It is surely time for a new favorite number for Rafael Nadal.

Once a very promising soccer player, he has long been partial to No. 9, which often denotes a striker, but it is the No. 10 that has kept bringing him joy and fulfillment this spring.

Nadal had already won a record 10th singles title on the clay in Monte Carlo and in Barcelona. On Sunday, to no one’s surprise, he did the same at the clay-court event that still matters most, defeating Stan Wawrinka, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, for his 10th French Open crown.

The victory capped what could rightly be seen as Nadal’s most dominant performance at Roland Garros. He lost just 35 games in his seven matches and did not drop a set. The victory also ended a three-year drought of major titles for Nadal, who won his ninth French Open title in 2014.

“I try my best in all events, that’s the real thing,” Nadal said at the trophy ceremony. “But the feeling I have here is impossible to describe and difficult to compare to another place. For me the nerves, the adrenaline that I feel when I play in this court is impossible to compare to another feeling. Just for me, it’s the most important event in my career, without a doubt.”

Wawrinka had never lost in his three previous Grand Slam singles finals. He beat Nadal in the 2014 Australian Open and Novak Djokovic in the 2015 French Open and in the 2016 U.S. Open.

But defeating a healthy, confident Nadal on the terre battue of Paris is still one of sport’s greatest challenges. The Spaniard born, raised and still residing on the Mediterranean island of Majorca - is 31 now.

A lesser competitor might have lost his edge long ago, but Nadal is still sliding after drop shots and throwing his body into heavy topspin forehands with the gusto of a younger champion.

Roger Federer remains on top of the Grand Slam count with 18 titles. With Sunday’s win, his 15th, Nadal broke a tie with Pete Sampras for second place. Twothirds of Nadal’s major titles have come at Roland Garros, where he has an astounding 79-2 record.

He has never lost a French Open final, and his 10 victories in Paris make him the first player to win 10 Grand Slam singles titles at the same tournament in the Open era.

Nadal has beaten great players, often beaten up on great players, to maintain his dominance. But if that dominance continues, one thing is expected to be different.

He has been coached since the beginning by his uncle, Toni Nadal, who gave him his first lesson in Majorca and has remained by his side throughout his career. But Toni announced this year that he would stop traveling with his nephew on a fulltime basis after this season. “Without him, not one would be possible,” Nadal said of his uncle on Sunday.

Twelve years later, the tournament now belongs a bit to both of them. To underscore that, the French Tennis Federation made special plans for Sunday.

At the trophy ceremony, with Nadal already holding the traditional Coupe des Mousquetaires, his uncle emerged from a tunnel bearing a second trophy: the replica that Nadal gets to keep. It had a different inscription.

This one bore Nadal’s name and the phrase “La Decima,” Spanish for 10th.