UNIMAGINABLE
In Spanish, it is undecimo .To be more grammatically precise, decimoprimera – and that sounds more fitting. Primero: first. Decimoprimera: 11th.
Rafael Nadal is the first, the primera, at Roland Garros – there has never been a player like him and there probably never will be again. Yesterday he won his 11th French Open title, his decimoprimero, with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Dominic Thiem.
“Win” barely described what he did to the world No 8: he bullied him, he bruised him, he bludgeoned him. And finally he crushed him.
“It’s amazing,” Nadal said. “I can’t describe my feelings. It’s not even a dream to win here for the 11th time because it’s impossible to think something like that.
“It’s really unbelievable. I’m very happy to have played a very good match today. It was the best match of the tournament for me. That was very important because Dominic is a very difficult rival, a very aggressive player. He’s a good friend and one of these players that the tour needs. I’m sure he will win here in the next couple of years.”
The young bloods have been threatening revolution for a couple of years now. Their aim, like every new generation, is to overthrow the establishment and take their place at the top table. But none of them has accounted for Nadal at Roland Garros. The 11-time champion is not so much an unbeatable player on the Parisian clay, he is a force of nature. No one and nothing can stop him.
If he is nervous – and he openly admits to nerves, especially in the first round – he finds a way to win. If he is playing badly, he finds a way to win. And if he is playing well, he is utterly untouchable. Thiem found Nadal playing well and may have nightmares about it for many months to come.
Not even cramp in his left arm in the third set slowed him down; Nadal will not be beaten in Paris, certainly not in a final. His career record at Roland Garros now stands at played 88, won 86, lost two. As for finals: played 11, won the lot.
At 24, Thiem is a little older than the much vaunted “Nextgen” players such as
“It’s not even a dream to win here for the 11th time because it’s impossible to think something like that. It’s really unbelievable. I’m very happy to have played a very good match today”
RAFAEL NADAL