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RAFAEL Nadal’s stranglehold on the French Open has endured so long and remains so strong that he has even outlasted his favourite Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros Stadium – and will probably still be winning the title when it gets a roof in 2020.
The dust will hardly have settled on Nadal’s record-extending 11th Roland Garros title, achieved with a 6-4 6-3 6-2 defeat of Austrian Dominic Thiem, before the demolition teams move in to start ripping out chunks of the old concrete.
The stadium is undergoing a major modernisation project, as has Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, the venue of the US Open.
But while the infrastructure of the world’s four Grand Slams gets constantly upgraded, the furniture at the top of men’s tennis remains bolted down.
Written off as fading forces two years ago, Nadal, 32, and Roger Federer, approaching 37, have won the last six Grand Slam titles between them. So much for the ageing process and the new generation expected to shove them to one side.
Federer returned from a five-year Grand Slam drought to beat Nadal in last year’s Australian Open final. He then won an eighth Wimbledon title and retained the Australian title in January, beating Marin Cilic on both occasions.
Spaniard Nadal reclaimed his French Open title 12 months ago without dropping a set and triumphed at the US Open.
For the second year running, Federer opted against playing at the French Open to spare his knees, but will be the favourite to win at Wimbledon next month and re-establish a four Grand-Slam gap over Nadal on the list of all-time collectors of Major titles.
Not that 17-times Grand Slam champion Nadal, whose latest feat is all the more remarkable considering he was sidelined for several weeks this year because of injury, is pre-occupied with trying to keep up with his Swiss rival.
“Let me enjoy this title. I can’t be always thinking of more. Of course, I have ambition – I have passion for what I am doing, but I never have been crazy about all this kind of stuff,” Nadal told a news conference.
“You can’t be frustrated always if somebody has more money than you, if somebody has a bigger house than you, if somebody has more Grand Slams than you. You can’t live with that feeling. You have to do things your way.”
Nadal has won three Grand Slam titles since turning 30. Only three others – Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, who handed over the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy on Sunday – have managed more, having done it four times.
“You can’t fight against age and you can’t fight against the watch. The watch keeps going always,” Nadal said.
“If you told me seven or eight years ago that I will be here at 32 years old having this trophy with me again, I will tell you that is something almost impossible, but here we are.”
After an intense clay court season in which he also col- lected an 11th Monte Carlo and Barcelona crown, suffering only one defeat in 27 matches, Nadal will take time out to go fishing in his native Mallorca before the grass court swing.
But anyone thinking he might relax, after having won the tournament he says he has a “love affair” with, will be wrong. “There is no limit. You never know where is the limit,” he said.
“If you don’t have the will to improve, you don’t understand sport.
“It’s playing with the dream of doing something better than what you’re doing before.”