Nadal continues to bury his rivals under clay Roger eyes return to top spot in Stuttgart
Spanish star, the greatest ever on the surface, says he is likely to return next year
PARIS: Rafael Nadal’s stranglehold on the French Open has endured so long and remains so strong that he has even out-lasted his favourite Court Philippe Chatrier stadium and will probably still be winning the title when it gets a roof in 2020.
The dust will hardly have settled on Nadal’s record-extending 11th Roland Garros title achieved with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Dominic Thiem before demolition teams move in to start ripping out chunks of old concrete.
Roland Garros is undergoing a major modernisation project, as have Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, the venue of the US Open. But while the infrastructure of the world’s four Grand Slams gets constantly upgraded, the furniture at the top of men’s tennis remains bolted down.
Written off as fading forces two years ago, Nadal, 32, and Roger Federer, approaching 37, have won the last six Grand Slam titles between them. So much for the ageing process and the new generation expected to shove them to one side.
Federer returned from a fiveyear Grand Slam drought to beat Nadal in last year’s Australian Open final, then won an eighth Wimbledon and retained the Australian title in January, beating Marin Cilic in the final on both occasions. Spaniard Nadal reclaimed his French Open title 12 months ago without dropping a set and triumphed at US Open.
For the second year running Federer opted against playing at the French Open to spare his knees, but will be favourite to win Wimbledon next month and re-establish a four Grand Slam gap over Nadal on the list of alltime collectors of major titles.
Not that 17-time Grand Slam champion Nadal, whose latest feat is all the more remarkable considering he was sidelined for several weeks this year due to injury, is pre-occupied with trying to keep up with his Swiss rival.
“Let me enjoy this title. I can’t be always thinking of more. Of course, I have ambition, I have passion for what I am doing, but I never have been crazy about all this kind of stuff,” Nadal said.
“You can’t be frustrated always if somebody have more money than you, if somebody have a bigger house than you, if somebody have more Grand Slams than you. You can’t live with that feeling. You have to do your way.”
Nadal has now won three Grand Slam titles since turning 30 and only three men, Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, who handed over the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy on Sunday, have managed more, having done it four times.
“You can’t fight against age and you can’t fight against the watch,” Nadal said. “If you told seven or eight years ago that I will be here at 32 years old having this trophy with me again, I will tell you that is something almost impossible, but here we are.” STUTTGART, GERMANY: : Roger Federer said on Monday his motivation is sky-high as he bids for a possible return to the number one ranking if he reaches the final at the Stuttgart Cup.
The 36-year-old Swiss, second in the ATP standings behind 11-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, has it all to play for this week at the hilltop Weissenhof club, where he lost a year ago in the first round to longtime friend and rival Tommy Haas.
After sitting out the clay season to fully rest and prepare for the grass and last playing match in Miami on March 24, the 20-time grand slam winner is quietly confident that all is falling into place as he mounts his quest for a ninth Wimbledon trophy next month.
“There are a lot of things at stake,” the Swiss, who enjoys a first round bye, said. “I expected Rafa to win the French — not taking anything away from him.
“But that creates a situation I was expecting. I know I have to reach the final here to get back to No. 1, that’s an extra motivation.
“But I’m taking one thing at a time and not looking too far ahead. Margins on the grass are slim, it’s not so simple to win a Grand Slam, it’s seven matches -that’s a lot of tennis.”
Federer is beginning his grass season in Stuttgart for the third consecutive year after reaching the 2016 semi-finals where he lost to Dominic Thiem.
NADAL NOT SURE OF PLAYING WIMBLEDON
PARIS: Rafael Nadal has cast doubt on his participation at Wimbledon, saying he needs to see how his body recovers after a long clay court campaign culminated in an 11th French Open title.
Two of the Spaniard’s 17 Grand Slam titles came on the All England Club’s lawns, but the 32-year-old has struggled to make an impact there in recent years.
“Difficult for me to think about it now. I had a long and mentally tough clay court season, of course, because I played almost all the matches possible after coming from an injury. So it was a demanding two months for me,” Nadal told reporters.