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Rafael Nadal Wins French Open; Can He Challenged At Wimbledon?

Rafael Nadal Wins French Open; Can He Challenged At Wimbledon?

Jun 9, 2013

Proceedings in the Men’s Singles Final at Roland Garros on Sunday always felt like a formality. In the end 31-year old David Ferrer – appearing in the first Grand Slam final of his career – competed hard and offered a good account of himself. However, there was really never doubt that it would be Rafael Nadal hoisting the French Open title for the fourth consecutive year and eighth time in his career.

Nadal cemented his already impressive record in the history books. He is the first man to win the same Grand Slam eight times. William Renshaw, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras each won Wimbledon seven times. Richard Sears, Bill Larned and Bill Tilden each won the US Open seven times, but no player has claimed eight crowns.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Nadal, despite the 6-3 6-2 6-3 score-line, but the result was never in doubt. The reality is that the ‘real’ final had happened a couple of days earlier when Nadal and world no.1 Novak Djokovic slugged it out in a five-set, four and a half hour marathon.

The final was notable for other events as protests against the recently passed gay marriage billed interrupted play on two occasions. Rain also seriously threatened play on a few occasions early in the match.

Nadal’s victory was even more remarkable and notable considering just what the 27-year old has been through over the past calendar year. An injury hampered and essentially ended his chances at Wimbledon last summer. He wasn’t able to return to action until the American hard court season this February. Since then he has been nothing less than a man possessed. He is 43-2 since that comeback winning seven titles while featuring in nine finals. He improved his incredible record at the French Open to 58-1 and his 12th Grand Slam triumph overall moves him into joint third with Australia’s Roy Emerson. He is now only behind Sampras (14) and Federer (17) on the all-time list and might have a chance to chase that down.

It’s pretty clear that Nadal’s injury troubles haven’t been completely alleviated. He has pulled out of his planned warm up grass court event and has accepted that it will be a challenge taking on the game’s best at Wimbledon. Grass has been a difficult surface for Nadal, though he has won two titles at the All England Club.

Maybe he won’t be able to challenge at Wimbledon. However, the tremendous talent of a young man and the ‘unbeatable’ tag he has been awarded on clay is well deserved and it was on full display once again over the last two weeks.

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