If Nadal had a lucky color, the whole world knew it would be red.
Standing in front of Roland Garros, standing in front of the Musketeers Cup, the 32-year-old Nadal is still the deserved "King of The Clay".
On June 9, local time, the 2019 French Open came to an end. In the high-profile men's singles final, with a return ball from challenger Thiem, defending champion Nadal defeated Thiem 3-1 to lift the Musketeers Cup again, achieving another French Open triple crown.
This is the 18th Grand Slam of Nadal's career and the 12th Musketeers Cup in Natto's 15 years, and he has carried many ups and downs, and Rafael Nadal has once again won Roland Garros. With the French Open trophy, Nadal also surpassed the famous Margaret Court's 11-time Australian Open title to become the tennis player who has won the most titles in a tournament.
15 years have passed since Nadal first competed in the French Open in 2005, when the 18-year-old was already a "veteran" full of injuries.
Nadal has been suffering from knee and ankle injuries since the second half of last year, and after retiring from the US Open semi-finals due to injury, he missed all matches, including the finals. In the semi-finals of the Indiana Wells Tournament in early 2019, just as the world was looking forward to enjoying the 39th Fenner final, Nadal announced his retirement due to injury before the match.
According to statistics, as of the Indiana Wells Race, in the previous 21 hard court competitions, Nadal has only completed 3 healthy. At that time, Nadal had been sentenced to the "retirement countdown" by the outside media and many players.
When Djokovic pointed out the "double grand slam" with 21 consecutive grand slam victories, under the situation that Thiem and Tsitsipas were chasing after him and wanted to get into the position as soon as possible, Nadal, who should have been the king of the 2019 clay season, became an insignificant "veteran" for a while.
The Monte Carlo Masters, defeated by Fognini; Barcelona, reaching the final but not defeating Thiem, for a time the king of clay handover ceremony was very loud; until last month's Rome Masters won the first title of the season, but despite this, everyone is still difficult to maintain optimism about Nadal's French Open trip this year.
Age, playing style, injuries, competitive status... There are too many factors that restrict the performance of Nadal today.
But there is no doubt that in the French Open, Nadal still has absolute dominance, with a total record of 93 wins and 2 losses, with a winning rate of 97.8%; 12 times to advance to the final, 12 times to win the championship, the final win rate is 100%... Brilliant data is the glory of his "king of red earth", but the glory of the past cannot affect any shot in reality, and he still has to fight on his own.
It's even a little strange to say, but it's just so magical! When Nadal stepped onto the French Open, he immediately became the master of the place, and no matter who came, it was difficult to beat Nadal's "three-plate axe". In this French Open promotion trip, Nadal eliminated the world's famous players such as Goffin, Kei Nishikori, Federer and Thiem all the way, and only lost 2 sets after 4 rounds, once again proving his dominance in Roland Garros.
Tim, known as the "Little Clay King", also said helplessly after the final defeat: "His performance is really unbelievable, the bigger I fall, the harder it is." There's a reason for his (Nadal's) success, and today I finally know why. ”
It wasn't until after winning the championship that Nadal was willing to confide in the rest of the world for the past six months, telling everyone that after he retired from the Indianavilles, his strong will that had been loved by the world had been shaken.
It wasn't until he came to Barcelona, after playing the first round, that Nadal had to lock himself in his room for a few hours to calmly reflect on his career, and finally he asked himself:
'Now there are two options, one is to stop and let the body recover, and the other is to change the mentality and face the subsequent game more positively and aggressively."
In the end he chose the latter.
Despite equalizing Federer's 20 Grand Slam titles, Nadal has no intention of stopping.
"A real champion is not someone who wins one or two trophies, a real champion is someone who has struggled all their lives."
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Text/Editor: The Eight Precepts