Slam drought over, Nadal heads for grass
NEW TARGET Having won the French Open the 10th time, Nadal sets his eyes on Wimbledon to prove one more point
Leave it to others to decide whether Rafael Nadal is playing the best tennis of his career as he comes off a 10th French Open championship, his 15th Grand Slam title in all, and now turns his attention to Wimbledon.
Those sorts of comparisons do not interest him.
Never have.
After a 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 tour de force against Stan Wawrinka in the final at Roland Garros on Sunday, capping two weeks of nearly flawless tennis on red clay — zero sets conceded; only 35 games dropped in seven matches — Nadal was asked whether he would rate himself as highly as ever right now.
He shook his head.
“I don’t know. I cannot say (yes); I cannot say not. These two weeks have been a great level of tennis, is true. But I already won two Roland Garros, too, without losing a set before this one, no? ... Probably I was playing good, too, no?” Nadal said with a smile.
“The only thing that I know is I am playing well now. I am happy. I am enjoying every week, and I want to continue. And I’m going to try to keep working hard to try to enjoy more beautiful weeks.”
Wawrinka had fewer qualms about assessing Nadal, who leads the tour with four titles and 43 match wins this season, including a 24-1 record on clay.
In the new ATP rankings, Nadal moves up two places to No. 2, his highest spot since October 2014.
“He’s playing the best he’s ever played. That’s for sure. But not only here,” said Wawrinka, a three-time major champion, including at the 2015 French Open. “I think since the beginning of the year, you can see he’s playing more aggressive, staying more close (to) the (baseline) . ... His level of play is unbelievable.”
There’s no rest for the weary: Play begins at the next major, Wimbledon, just three weeks from Monday.
No. 1 Andy Murray is the defending champion. Roger Federer, who claimed his record 18th major title by beating Nadal in the Australian Open final in January, will be back in action after taking the clay-court portion of the season off. Novak Djokovic will try to get back on track after going through four Grand Slam tournaments without successfully defending any of the titles he won a year prior.
Nadal won Wimbledon twice, in 2008 and 2010. He also reached the final there three other times.
But it’s been a while: The Spaniard, now 31, has not made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2011.
He skipped the tournament last year, when he was dealing with the injured left wrist that forced him to withdraw from the 2016 French Open after two matches.
“I love grass, everybody knows . ... So I hope that my knees hold (up) well and I can have the preparation that I really need and the preparation that I wanted,” Nadal said.
Four games he dropped at most in any set in any match. That’s incredible. There are many improvements to his game. Today’s Rafa would beat the Rafa of 2005 who won his first French Open and wouldn’t drop more than three games a set I don’t think many can put it into words and I don’t think many understand this accomplishment, truly incredible Amazing 10th title at Roland Garros for Rafael Nadal that will never happen again. Congratulations to a true champion I’m totally shocked to see him do it. I didn’t think I’d see him come back to win another slam, let alone emphatically He lost 35 games in the entire tournament... I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my car keys 35 times this year. Huge respect for Rafa