Who is the king of the clay, Nadal deserves it, the French Open 13 crowns, it can be said that there is no one who has come after the ancients. He won a total of 7 titles at the Australian Open Wimbledon and the US Open, ranking alongside Federer and Djokovic to become the highest in the history of the Open era.
Signature action bites the French Open trophy
An all-out hit Nadal
Rafael Nadal (born 3 June 1986 in Mallorca, Spain) is a Spanish professional tennis player. In 2001 Nadal moved into professional tennis, climbing to second place in the world rankings in July 2005 and reaching the world number one for the first time in August 2008.
With a left-handed racket, a powerful spin-up ball, strong willpower, and an undead Nadal turned the clay field into his own backyard. The French Open won 13 crowns in 16 years from 2005 to 2020, and the King of Clay performed the enthronement ceremony over and over again. The outside world ranked him as the second of the four giants of the men's tennis.
Tough serve
For 15 years, Nadal's position as the King of The Red Earth has been easily shaken.
Entering the 2021 season, on February 17, 2021, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open men's singles, Nadal lost three consecutive sets with a 2-0 lead, and finally lost to Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, 64-77, 4-6, 5-7, missing the round of 4. On April 16, in the men's singles quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, Nadal lost 2-6, 6-4, 2-6 to Rublev, stopping in the quarterfinals. On April 25, in the men's singles final of the Barcelona Open, Nadal won the tournament for the 12th time by defeating Greece's Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-76, 7-5. On May 17, in the men's singles final of the Masters in Rome, Nadal defeated Djokovic 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 to win the men's singles title for the tenth time. On June 12, in the semifinals of the Men's Singles of the French Open, Nadal lost 3-1 to Djokovic Djokovic to stop the final four. He won only two crowns in the clay field, where he valued most. In particular, the failure of the most important French Open Four deeply hit his self-confidence, and the status of the king of the red earth began to loosen.
On June 17, 2021, Nadal announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon 2021 and Tokyo 2020. On August 6, in the third round of the men's singles match of the Washington Open, Nadal lost 4-6, 6-1, 4-6 to South African footballer Lloyd Harris, missing the quarterfinals. On August 20, Nadal announced that the 2021 season ended early and would not participate in the remaining events of 2021, including the US Open. The 2021 season of the King of Clay was silent.
Sad tears
Looking forward to which stop of the new season in 2022 will be the last glory of the king of clay, Nadal, --- the end of the crossbow?