It’s exhausting to argue that there was a better sporting achievement to return out of tennis — when it comes to measurement, longevity, or fame — than Rafael Nadal’s report on on the French open.
14 Roland Garros titles, a win-loss report of 112-4 (96.55%) and a statue that now patrols these courts. The record of achievements, as astounding as they might be, solely tells a small a part of the story of how Nadal modified perceptions of enjoying on the pink stuff; how he added glamour and a heightened sense of historical past each time he participated on the floor that had lengthy been dismissed because the working-class athlete’s model of the finesse-fuelled, largely aristocratic recreation performed on the grass courts at tennis’s holy grail of Wimbledon.
Nevertheless, as Nadal introduced on Thursday that he’s set to retire from skilled tennis after the Davis Cup finals subsequent month—following two years of awkward toil to return to the elite phases once more—the urge to pigeonhole the Spaniard’s legacy as merely the best clay courter ever can be a disservice to one of many few universally acknowledged sporting greats to emerge from the sport.
In Open Period males’s tennis historical past, solely 5 gamers have gained greater than 8 Grand Slam titles, the quantity that Nadal gained outdoors of clay. Novak Djokovic, and Novak Djokovic alone, is the one participant who has matched, and surpassed, Nadal for all-court greatness. The 2 of them have gained no less than two titles at every of the 4 Majors (Djokovic has gained three).
Mil gracias a todos
Many due to all
Merci beaucoup à tous
Grazie mille à tutti
谢谢大家
شكرا لكم جميعا
תודה לכולכם
Obrigado a todos
Vielen Dank euch allen
Tack alla
Хвала свима
Gràcies a tots pic.twitter.com/7yPRs7QrOi— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) October 10, 2024
His two best match wins — the rain-curtailed five-set triumph to dethrone Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2008 (dubbed by some as the best tennis match ever), and the come-from-behind victory to win the Australian Open shortly after damage comeback in 2022 — each got here away from clay.
He additionally did so within the hardest period to win Majors, sandwiched between the contrasting types of two of the best gamers, each of whom depend him as their best rival.
It was the genius of Federer that allowed him to reach in the midst of the period dominated by energy baseliners and carve out an almost unplayable all-court offensive fashion. Nadal, along with his athleticism and distinctive shotmaking, discovered the antidote from inside the energy baseline recreation itself. When the youthful, extra cerebral Djokovic arrived onto the scene, for lengthy, Nadal discovered the smarts to enhance from his one-dimensional recreation to show to be his equal.
Collectively, the triumvirate’s cross-rivalry lent a better profile to the game. Not solely would their matchups be wealthy in narrative, but in addition elevate and evolve the technical and bodily limits of the game. Federer exits the stage as probably the most universally adored, Djokovic has now established himself as the best due to his longevity and consistency.
For Nadal to emerge from this period as merely the clay GOAT can be reductive. After having altered his fashion to regulate to the constraints of his battered physique, and carving a physique of labor that consists of twenty-two Majors no much less.
The half he performed within the tri-valry, the style through which he fought to the final level to create a few of the most epic matches and wins, and the perceptions he modified about tennis, should all be counted alongside his clay greatness when charting his true legacy.