Nadal makes history with 10th Open title
SANDRA HARWITT
PARIS - Rafael Nadal had done what no other player has done, and it could be a long time, if ever, for someone to duplicate his mastery.
On a hot Sunday afternoon bathed in sunshine at the French Open – Nadal kind of weather, to be sure – the Spaniard became the first player in the Open Era to win the same Grand Slam title 10 times in his career.
The 31-year-old Nadal offered no mercy to Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, in putting on a strategic and impenetrable clay court clinic to capture his 15th overall Grand Slam title 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
He would win this French Open without even dropping a set, a distinction he also achieved in hoisting the trophy in 2008 and 2010. In all, he only lost 35 games during these two weeks in Paris.
Nadal, who dropped to the court and covered his eyes when Wawrinka netted the final shot, saved the one break point he faced in the third game of the first set. It was the only opportunity he presented the Swiss in the 2 hour, 5 minute match.
“The feeling that I have here is impossible to describe, impossible to compare to other places,” Nadal said on court after the victory, brushing away tears. “The adrenaline and nerves I feel on this court I can’t describe. This is the most important event in my career, without a doubt.”
The significance of the achievement was not lost on anybody, and French Open organizers were prepared to commemorate the moment in grand style in the event Nadal succeeded. There was a film prepared with footage of all of his French Open victories, and with some quick editing it even included Sunday’s match point.
Nadal basked in his moment. Prior to the playing of the Spanish National anthem, banners were unfurled at the top of the stadium, one making note of his 10th win – known as “La Decima” – and one with a bold and big message for the champion: “BRAVO RAFA.”
Wawrinka lauded his opponent to the crowd during the ceremony, saying, “What you are doing in tennis and our sport is just unbelievable.”
But that wasn’t even the big reveal of the ceremony, which came when his uncle, Toni Nadal, who has coached Rafa since he was 3, was given the honor of delivering a life-sized replica of the French Open trophy for him to take home. Players normally get a juniorsized replica of the trophy they’ve won, but this time around called for something far more grandiose.
“For me, every Roland Garros have been very important for itself,” Rafael Nadal said. “You have some ones that are more special than others, obviously, but every one have been unique. Yeah, I enjoyed every one. Is true that this one is gonna be one of the more special for the number, for what happened on the ceremony after the final, for so many things. And because I am 31 already and not a kid anymore.
“Because of the level of tennis and accepting that I have (had) problems, physical problems for the last period of time, that’s an important one,” he added.
Nadal has never lost a final at the French Open. His 79-2 record in Paris is the best in French Open history. His only two losses at Roland Garros came in the fourth round in 2009 and the quarterfinals in 2015.
The magnificence of what Nadal achieved in winning on Sunday magnifies in context to where he was situated in his career just a year ago, when a left wrist injury forced him out of the French Open ahead of a scheduled third-round match. He didn’t play again until the Rio Olympics, and then in mid-October he shut down his season because of the injury.
“For sure he’s playing the best he’s ever played,” said Wawrinka, who lost his first Grand Slam final in four played. “But not only here. I think since the beginning of the year, you can see he’s playing more aggressive, staying more close from the line. That’s why he’s winning so much again.”
OAKLAND, Calif. - A year ago for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers sat alongside suspended forward Draymond Green next-door to Oracle Arena in a suite at the Oakland Athletics game.
Myers told Green: Let’s not do this again.
On Monday night, the Warriors will try to close out their second championship in three years with the fiery Green on the court to start Game 5 this time. They are up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series — again. LeBron James and Cleveland, who appeared down and out only days ago in an 0-3 hole, now have some momentum after winning Game 4 and they will try to stave off elimination once more.
“We won three games in a row in the Finals and 15 in a row overall in the playoffs, you just think it’s going to happen,” Green said Sunday.
“And then all of a sudden you get slapped in the face. It’s like, ‘Whoa.’ You remember what can be, what can happen.”
Golden State would rather forget that monumental collapse last year, when Green’s absence for Game 5 because of flagrant foul point accumulation helped swing the series. He took a swipe at James’ groin in Game 4 after the Cavaliers superstar stepped over him.
Myers chose to stay with Green as he sat out that game last June.
“When we were there last year I think I looked at him and said: ‘Let’s just never do this again. Let’s make sure you’re playing and I get to watch. This doesn’t feel right, let’s avoid this, move forward,’” Myers recalled. “Whatever he’s doing, he should keep doing it. And look, he hasn’t lost any of the intensity and he hasn’t lost his edge. That’s the hardest challenge, when you have that type of emotions, to channel it. And he’s really been able to do that. Like I said, I think because of experience.”
Green said his suspension conversation with Myers is a moment “I remember like it was yesterday, I’ll never forget it.”
If the Warriors can close out the tough-to-eliminate Cavs on Monday, they would become the first Bay Area team to capture a championship at home since the A’s finished the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1974 World Series.
James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love know they aren’t out of this yet — after all, they came back from a daunting deficit a year ago on the way to the city’s first major team sports title in 52 years. Sure, it will be a tall task in Oakland with a motivated Kevin Durant trying to capture his first career title and playing like a possible Finals MVP.
“We know that champions don’t die. They don’t just lay down and die,” Durant said.
The Cavs showed what they’re capable of doing when everything clicks on both ends, scoring a record 86 points in the first half of Friday’s 137-116 win to extend the series and postpone any Warriors plans for a victory parade. But that was in Cleveland. “We have to be 20 times better in this building,” said James, who has won at least one road game in 29 straight postseason series.
Golden State knows it too must make adjustments, including getting a hand in the face of the Cavs’ sharpshooters after surrendering a Finals record 24 3-pointers Friday, seven of those by Irving during his 40-point masterpiece. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said it all starts with better on-ball defense.
Durant said he can accept when Cleveland hits a contested 3, but not those when nobody closes out so shooters have ample time and long, open looks.
“You can make a sandwich before somebody even gets out there,” Durant said of how it seemed in Game 4.
Green has stayed just on the right side of the line this postseason, not in danger of an automatic suspension for technicals or flagrant accumulation.
“Maybe more measured,” Myers said, comparing Green from last year to now. “He’s confining his intensity in a more narrow lane, meaning sometimes he would spill over in areas. But he’s learned how to focus that intensity. And also perspective and experience. There’s no substitute for experiencing winning a championship and losing one for what else you need to know as a player.”