Deep Into Sports: Nadal + 1 :(
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a blogumn by Nate Barlow
31-0.
That was Rafael Nadal’s French Open record prior to playing hard-hitting Swede Robin Soderling Sunday at Roland Garros, an undefeated streak dating back to Nadal’s Open debut in 2005. The undisputed master of the clay court had won four straight French Open men’s singles titles
31-0.
Nadal came into the 2009 French Open as the number one seed and top-ranked men’s player in the world. The Spaniard had finally captured the world’s #1 ranking scarcely a month after defeating the great Swiss champion Roger Federer in the epic men’s finale of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, in what many consider the greatest tennis match of all-time. Although it would take a couple more matches before the ranking would be his, after Wimbledon the heir apparent to the great Federer was clear.
31-0.
How great was Federer? He had been ranked #1 a record 237 consecutive weeks. And Nadal? Prior to moving into the top spot, he had been the World’s #2 a record 160 weeks. Since 2004, either Nadal or Federer had won all but three of the men’s Grand Slam titles. For those counting, that’s 18 of 21 championships. Federer had won twelve of those, Nadal six (including his four French Open titles), but Nadal had won three of the last four: the French and Wimbledon in 2008 and the Australian Open in 2009.
31-0.
Until the loss to Soderling, Nadal had won 81 consecutive matches on clay, the longest single-surface winning streak in the open era, including three victories over Federer at Roland Garros. But until the epic Wimbledon match, Nadal appeared to be a clay court specialist, failing to win any of the Grand Slams other than the French–ironically, the complete opposite of Federer, who still cannot count the French Open among his 13 Grand Slam championships. And then the Spaniard finally won Wimbledon and Australia, both victories over Federer, giving him 5 titles in 7 tries when facing off against the super Swiss in Grand Slam finals. Had Federer’s time come and gone, would he never complete that career Grand Slam.
31-0.
And then Nadal lost at Roland Garros to the unheralded Swede, while Federer has continued to advance. Maybe by the time you read this the Swiss champion will have lost, but at the time of this writing he’s fought his way into quarterfinals. Is this finally the year that perhaps the greatest male tennis champion of all time finally completes his career Grand Slam? The odds increased dramatically with Nadal’s loss. Of course, the victory would be that much sweeter if it came against his greatest competition in the finale, but sports tournaments are as much about surviving as simply winning. Finally winning the French Open would be the crowning moment on Federer’s fabulous career. We should all root for him to do so.
31-0.
It sounds impressive, and it is. But all that matters is your last match. Nadal should win many more Grand Slam tournaments and probably more matches at the French Open than at any of the others. But for now…
31-1.