Who, if not Rafael Nadal, should win the title at the French Open 2018? According to the findings of the clay court season so far, anything but a success for the Spaniard would be a sensation.
For gamblers, the man who has ruled Roland Garros like a Sun King for more than a decade does not matter. With Rafael Nadal (31) there is no state and no money to be made at the betting desk, whoever bets on him, the ten-time French Open triumphator, is currently not even getting half of his bet back as a profit. Nadal’s odds are 1:1.4 Euro, followed by Germany’s Ace Alexander Zverev (1:8) – and then the dynamic Austrian Dominic Thiem (1:10).
The fact that number two and number three among the bookmakers’ favourites are already receiving these tempting odds shows how highly the position of the beefy Mallorcan is regarded. To stay in the image of the Sun King: Nadal stands for absolutism in the sands of Paris. The French Open – that’s him, the matador, the ardent fighter. The man who won 79 of his 81 games in the west of the French capital. The not at all age-weary street fighter, who roared to the mythical tenth title last year even without winning a set.
“Paris has always been good to me. It’s a special place. A place like no other for me,” says Nadal. No other player in tennis history has dominated a Grand Slam tournament as much as Nadal in Paris. With the German Lars Burgsmüller, Nadal began his almost unimpeded triumphal procession in the first round of the French Championships in 2005, when he came, saw and won as a 17-year-old teenager.
And he continued to win, against all the great and strong, and mercilessly also against Roger Federer, whom he distanced three times in a row in the finals between 2006 and 2008. Robin Söderling, a Swede in the round of 16, was an unlikely opponent in 2009. To this day, he is the only slip-up of the bullfighter Nadal, whom they disrespectfully call the “cannibal” in Paris. One year after the amazing knockout, Nadal took revenge, defeating Söderling in the final, and the next winning streak began.
Nadal was often injured in the late years of his career, sitting on the sidelines, but in Paris he remained a giant, a larger-than-life figure – only Novak Djokovic defeated him again in June 2016, the rest: victories, victories, victories of Nadal. “It’s a picture full of perfection, the years of Nadal in Paris,” says Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to hold the trophy in his hands 35 years ago at the home game under the Eiffel Tower.
Ten times the puzzle game in Paris, who of 128 professionals wins the climax of the grueling clay court season, has dissolved in the person of Nadal. “I never thought it would be possible for a player to win so many times in this tournament,” says the great old Australian Rod Laver.
In fact, Björn Borg’s six victories in the 1970s and 1980s were long considered an insurmountable mark, but Nadal erased this record for the professional era at will, and in 2019 he could even have a dozen Paris titles on his account. La Decima”, the ten triumphs, were already a magical achievement, especially with last year’s march through without losing a set. Memorably, the matador concluded his campaign in the final in 2017, against the then third in the world rankings Stan Wawrinka, Nadal wrote a 6:2, 6:3, 6:1 declassification in the “terre battue”, in the red brick bottle.
Now Nadal is even competing with a “La Decima” racquet specially designed by his racquet manufacturer Babolat to pick up cup number eleven for the trophy cabinet at his Mallorcan academy. And who wants to, who can prevent it at all, the solo of Nadal, the solo for the “Bull of Manacor”? Nadal would answer this rhetorically meant question seriously, he is finally known as the world champion of caution, of understatement. “I have respect for every opponent. If I’m not alert and focused, it’s all quickly over for me,” says Nadal.
Only one was able to beat him in the clay court season, the Austrian Dominic Thiem in Madrid. But when Thiem challenged the Spaniard hopefully last year in the semi-final of Roland Garros, the fans experienced one-way street tennis. Over three winning sets, on this Centre Court, the task against Nadal is increased many times over.
Nadal seems to be prepared for every French Open situation, he wins in cloudy rainy weather when the balls and the pitch are heavy. And even when it’s hot, when he shoots his irresistible spin balls, with a spin that generations of opponents despaired of.
Nadal goes into the Grand Slam festivities as number one of the world ranking list and the seed list. Many had not expected him to do that when the clay court season began. Nadal is often filled with doubts, with suspicions that he cannot maintain this dominance. Again he punished all lies.
Now the next title hunt starts, with the most important tournament of the year for him. “It would be a dream to win,” he says. A dream he never gets tired of dreaming. Every year again.