Rafael Nadal Still Owns Roland Garros
Roland Garros = French Open, by the way.
Don’t ask me why, but big Grand Slam tennis matches excite me as much as any other sporting event outside of the MLB playoffs. I would’ve watched the French Open final today if I didn’t have some work around the house to do. Basically any late-round Grand Slam match with Roger Federer is worth a watch, but the French Open is different. Why, you ask? Because it’s the one Grand Slam tournament that Federer hasn’t won, and it’s completely owned by another player – Rafael Nadal. After today’s convincing 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win, Nadal has three straight titles and a career record of 21-0 at Roland Garros. In his career, he is 35-0 in five-set clay matches. That is absolutely disgusting. Federer’s dominance at Wimbledon and on grass comes close, but he’s not UNDEFEATED. (Of course, he’s lost some 3-set clay matches, but he still had a record 81-match winning streak on the surface.)
So Federer has to deal with another year without completing his career Grand Slam. He’ll most likely win the last two Grand Slams this year in addition to his Australian Open title, though. But he’s one year closer to retiring without a French Open title, much like the man he has already surpassed in many experts’ eyes – Pete Sampras. He’s still 4 Grand Slam titles behind Sampras (he has 10), but I see him at least tying that by next year unless Nadal’s dominance over Federer spills over onto other surfaces. That is something I’d like to see, as every other Grand Slam is reaching the point of foregone conclusion at this point.
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