King of clay reigns

As Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem warmed up before the French Open final, the booming voice of an announcer at Court Philippe Chatrier called out each player’s bona fides.

Nadal’s introduction included a year-by-year accounting of every time he had already won the title at Roland Garros. The crowd responded, initially offering polite applause, then adding their voices, rising into a fullthroated roar.

Go ahead and add 2018 to the lengthy list. Nadal won his record-extending 11th championship at the French Open yesterday, overcoming a late problem with a finger on his racketswinging hand and displaying his foe-rattling best for a 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory over No 7 seed Thiem, the only person to beat the Spaniard on clay over the past two seasons.

Up a break at 2-1 in the third set, Nadal stopped serving after a fault because he couldn’t straighten his left middle finger. At the following changeover, Nadal was given a salt pill by a doctor and had his left forearm massaged by a trainer.

"Tough moment in the third set when I got a little bit cramped on the hand,’’ Nadal said. ‘‘I was very scared.’’

Nadal’s form never wavered, though, and soon enough he was celebrating his 17th grand slam title overall, second among men only to Roger Federer’s 20. The two stars have combined to win the past six majors.

The victory also allowed the Nadal, 32, to hold onto the No 1 ranking, just ahead of Federer.

Nadal called it ‘‘not even a dream’’ to gather 11 titles in Paris, saying it was ‘‘impossible to think of something like this.’’

Thiem, a 24-year-old from Austria, was appearing in a major final for the first time. Not much more of a daunting task than doing so against this particular opponent at the French Open, where Nadal is now 11-0 in finals and 86-2 overall. The only losses came against Robin