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Nadal’s French connection

Rafael Nadal accomplished a number of things when he crushed Roger Federer at Roland Garros. The Spaniard reaffirmed his status as the undisputed king of clay courts, equalled the open era record held by Bjorn Borg by winning his fourth successive French Open, and became the third player in history to win the title without dropping a set. But doesn’t his stunning 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 rout of the world number one also mark something more important — something that goes beyond such immediate milestones? For some time now, there has been a debate about whether this remarkable 22-year-old is the greatest clay court player ever. While, as in other sports, it is extremely difficult to compare tennis players across generations, Nadal’s victory is bound to sharpen the debate. As things stand, the hard-hitting Spaniard, whose game is marked by a raw and muscular ebullience, owns the record for the longest-ever winning streak on clay — a run of 81 matches that was ironically ended by Federer last year. He arrived this year at Roland Garros with 108 wins in his last 110 appearances, the kind of dominance that other clay court greats such as Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, and Gustavo Kuerten never enjoyed. Nadal of course has more work to do before catching up with the Bjorn Borg’s haul of six French Open titles; these triumphs, in the eight-year period between 1974 and 1981, saw the phlegmatic Swede beat a clutch of clay court specialists such as Manuel Orantes, Guillermo Vilas, and Ivan Lendl.

As for Federer, the French Open crown — which has eluded him once again — leaves a faint stain in an otherwise spotless career. The consummately talented Swiss superstar is one of the most complete tennis players to have emerged in recent times. Although his style is totally unsuited to slow clay courts, Federer has shown he can challenge the best on the surface. In the last four French Opens, he has reached the semi-finals once and the finals thrice — not a bad performance considering he lost every one of these times to Nadal. A victory at Roland Garros, however, would crown a remarkable career and possibly settle all residual doubt about who the greatest tennis player is in the open era. His only rival, the legendary Pete Sampras, who won a record 14 Grand Slam titles, reached the semi-final only once in 13 appearances at Roland Garros. Federer will remain the favourite for Wimbledon later this month but has struggled throughout this year, with only one tournament win under his belt so far. With Nadal seeming to have shrugged off his recent loss of form and with Novak Djokovic improving by the day, the top of the tennis field is looking more competitive than ever. As a result, the immediate future of men’s tennis seems very exciting.

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