Exactly 15 years ago, at the Philippe Chatier Stadium in Roland Garros, France, a future champion of the men's tennis world was born, which opened the glorious career of the "clay god" in the tennis world, he is Nadal. Nadal, who was only 19 years old at the time, defeated Federer in the semi-finals of the French Open, beating Argentina's Puerta 3-1 in the final, becoming the second player in history to win the first time in the French Open.
In fact, before winning the French Open that year, Nadal had already made his mark. In the clay season of 2005, he won two heavyweight titles in Monte Carlo and the Rome Masters, and came to Roland Garros with a brilliant record of 17 consecutive wins, and his world ranking had risen to fifth in the world before the French Open. Arguably, even though Nadal is playing at the French Open for the first time, he is definitely one of the biggest hits.
In that year's French Open, Nadal remained invincible. The first three rounds were all won in three sets, and in the fourth round, he lost one set against local player Grossjang. But after coming to the quarter-finals, Nadal defeated compatriot Ferrer in three straight sets. In the semi-finals, facing Swiss king Federer, who is at the peak of his career, the 19-year-old Nadal defeated his opponent 3-1. This was the beginning of Federer's nightmare at the French Open, and Nadal avenged the spring Miami Masters' stunning reversal by Federer.
The hour hand dialed to 21:00 Beijing time on June 5, 2005, and Nadal finally welcomed the last opponent, argentine Puerta. This big dark horse of the French Open was still very tough in front of Nadal. Trailing 1-2 in the first three sets, Puerta once took three sets in the fourth set, but all of them were deflected by Nadal. The two sides fought until the early morning of Beijing time on the 6th, and finally Puerta achieved the miracle of winning the championship of the 19-year-old. Nadal became the second player to win a Grand Slam title at the age of 19 after Sampras in 1990, which can be described as a young success.
Looking at Nadal's 2005 French Open title, it was the first peak of his career. Since then, Nadal has embarked on his legendary career of winning the French Open 12 times, becoming the undisputed greatest clay player in history. He holds a record 59 titles on clay and an 81-game winning streak on clay. Incidentally, he overshadowed Federer's competitiveness at the French Open and clay, even though the Swiss king was one of the best clay players of his time.