When Rafael Nadal first burst onto the scene by winning the French Open in 2005, the consensus was he was another in the long line of great claycourt players, men who could dominate on the red surface of Roland Garros but were often vulnerable on faster surfaces.
Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander, truly great clay (and hardcourt) players, never won Wimbledon. On the flip side, Hall of Fame players like Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg could never quite figure out the red clay.
Bjorn Borg, who won in Paris six times, also won Wimbledon five times – but never the US or Australian Open. Rod Laver won on grass and clay and no doubt would have on hard courts had majors been played on them during his career. Laver could have won playing on an iceskating rink – or any other surface. Sampras won 14 major titles but never got to the final in Paris. Before Sampras came along, Roy Emerson held the record for men’s Grand Slam singles titles at 12.
On Sunday, Nadal won one for the 14th time in Paris. His record in French Open finals is now 14-0 after his crushing 6-3 , 6-3 , 6-0 victory over Casper Ruud. Ruud, who is 23, actually led 3-1 in the second set before Nadal simply took his game to another level, winning the final 11 games of the match. The Norwegian didn’t play poorly the first two sets, but he had no chance.
Nadal winning in Paris on the tournament’s final Sunday is as absolute as summer rain in London. It is inevitable. This time around, Nadal’s toughest match came in the quarterfinals , where he won a four-hourplus classic over fellow all-time great Novak Djokovic. That match clearly should have been played in the final , but that’s not alway how it turns out. And so Nadal, who has missed time with injuries this year, was the No.5 seed, because God forbid anyone should fail to follow the rankings.
Seeding Nadal fifth is roughly the same as telling Tiger Woods to go play the AAA Korn Ferry Tour after he won his first Masters by 12 shots. Nadal, in any case, long ago proved he was far more than a claycourt specialist. His victory was his 22nd Grand Slam title, putting him two in front of Djokovic and Roger Federer.
If you held a final vote for greatest player of all time today, Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, would have to be No. 1. Statistics are overused, but a handful of Nadal’s numbers go beyond breathtaking. He is 112-3 at Roland Garros (what?) , but he has won eight majors off the red clay: two Australian Opens; two Wimbledons and four US Opens.
That’s as many majors as icons Connors, Andre Agassi and Lendl each won total, and one more than McEnroe. What’s most fascinating about all this is that last year the title of greatest player ever had been more or less ceded to Djokovic. He had beaten Nadal on his way to winning in Paris in June and had gone on to win at Wimbledon in July, putting him in a three-way tie with Nadal and Federer with 20 major victories.
Federer turned 40 in August and had lost in the Wimbledon quarters to Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets, including 6-0 in the third. He then announced he needed knee surgery, again, and hoped to play again in 2022. He still hasn’t played and, as McEnroe noted on Sunday, there’s a good chance we will never see him again in a major championship.
After his semi-final loss to Djokovic at Roland Garros, Nadal had pulled out of Wimbledon and the US Open with recurring foot issues . Many wondered if his career might also be over. Thus, Djokovic’s path to a 21st major victory and the record in major wins appeared clear. He was 34, healthy and going for a calendar Grand Slam in New York. His two great rivals were older and injured. But then Daniil Medvedev whipped him in the US Open final and his refusal to be vaccinated in the midst of the pandemic got him deported from Australia before the Australian Open. Nadal then came from two sets down in the Australian final against Medvedev and became the first man to get to 21 major wins.
Sunday, he got to 22 and, apparently , at 36, is still counting. He’s now halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished on the men’s side since Laver did it in 1969 at a time when three of the four majors were still played on grass.
Djokovic, who has won at Wimbledon six times, will no doubt be poised to take him down there. And, although Nadal won one of the two greatest matches of all time (along with McEnroe-Borg in 1980) in the 2008 final at the All England Club, grass is still his toughest surface because he can’t wear people down the way he does in Paris, and to a lesser extent in New York and Melbourne , over shorter rallies and shorter matches. That is a discussion for another day.
Sunday was a day to revel in Nadal’s extraordinary career, his ability to come back time and again, whether from injury or from a point in which his opponent appeared to be in control. That’s the greatness of Nadal: You can get him down, but it is almost impossible to get him out. Nadal has now heard his anthem played on a French Open Sunday 14 times. The emotion on his face made it clear that he still revels in every victory. As we all should.
The Washington Post
MLTC Newsletter – Round 1 Badge Results 2024April 30, 2024
Badge Draws 2024April 26, 2024
Crucial Point & Games | ATPApril 18, 2024
DO WE LIKE KYRGIOS? IT’S COMPLICATED | SMH
/in Ask the Pro, Goss, News /by RobWimbledon still has a couple of days to go, which is helpful because 48 hours gives us time to have another 48 opinions on Nick Kyrgios, to add to the thousands we’ve had on Kyrgios over the past eight years. This is Australia in 2022: Girt By Nick.
Kyrgios is now a human hottake generator, in that the endless hot takes on him now generate their own hot takes about the earlier hot takes, and on and on until we die. You’re reading one right now, so please watch for any sudden change in your vital signs.
To sum up our rollercoaster journey with the tennis terror from Canberra, let’s go to the social media-speak Nick himself loves so much: It’s Complicated. WTAF. FFS. And so on.
Because let’s be honest: it’s as easy to write the column ‘‘ Ten Reasons To Love Nick Kyrgios’ ’ as it is to write the column ‘‘ Ten Reasons To Hate Nick Kyrgios’’ .
You can sensibly and sarcastically wonder out loud what it is the Kyrgios fans love about him. Is it the verbal abuse? The violent treatment of racquets and balls? The spitting? The tanking? The narcissism? Equally, you can ask the Kyrgios haters what it is they hate. Is it the breathtaking talent? The shotmaking audacity? The charming impudence of his approach to the game’s stuffed shirts? His refreshing honesty that winning isn’t everything? What’s not to love? And what’s not to hate?
Kyrgios contains multitudes, and it is entirely possible that by Monday he will also contain a Wimbledon title, a triumph that will challenge us to reconsider him once again. Rarely have Australian sports fans been presented with a dilemma quite like the one we face this weekend.
As a lifelong tennis nut, my own journey with Kyrgios has been long and complicated. I remember the time he first made me sit up with a start in the middle of the night, saving nine match points on his way to the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2014. Everything seemed possible then. I loved the guy, and I’ve spent a lot of money supporting him, flying to Darwin to watch him in the Davis Cup, and finding myself sitting next to Ken Rosewall at Rod Laver Arena the night Kyrgios played Nadal at the Australian Open in 2020.
Rosewall (who seemed bemused by Kyrgios more than anything else) never won Wimbledon, but he was a living reminder of a time when Australians always did. From 1922 to 1972, Australian players hoisted the men’s trophy 18 times. In the 50 years since, we’ve managed it just twice, Pat Cash in 1987 and Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
We desperately want another man to win the greatest title, but Kyrgios – with as much raw talent as any Australian player has ever had – complicates the hope. And some of that is actually quite simple for some of the reactions: it’s racism. But racism does not explain all or even most of the contentious relationship.
I fell off the Kyrgios bandwagon last year, and after eight years of ferocious loyalty I’m finding it very hard to get back on it – even with a Wimbledon title in sight. The eternal promise had given way to eternal complaining. The bad behaviour too often crosses the line. The self-aggrandisement – the boasting about his crowd sizes and his self-proclaimed stature as the saviour of modern tennis – almost echoes Trump in its narcissism.
And so here we are, wondering what comes next.
Perhaps we can look to the past to summon some optimism. Hark back to John McEnroe, who was literally persona non grata at Wimbledon (they refused him the honorary club membership given to all champions) until his genius and his grit turned him into a beloved elder of the sport.
Ditto with Andre Agassi. He even boycotted Wimbledon for years because of the all-white dress code. Then he turned up, wearing white tracksuit pants like a spirit returned from the 1920s, and won the whole show. Agassi 2.0 was born right there on the hallowed London lawns, past demons cast aside.
Could history repeat? Will we come to love Kyrgios like we did those tennis toddlers of the past? We’re about to find out if Nick can wake up to the fact that the grass really is greener on the other side.
Neil McMahon is a freelance writer.
MTC Night Competitions Term 3
/in Tennis Centre /by RobEntries for Term 3 Close July 15
Entries are now open online for Term 3 comps.
Entries close July 15 for both competitions.
Tuesday comp starts July 19 and Wednesday comp starts July 20.
Reserve players always welcome. For more information, please contact or email Scott.
Sign up on the web below.
Scott Blackburn
MTC Tennis Director & Head Pro
MTC Ladies Competitions Term 3
/1 Comment/in Tennis Centre /by RobEntries for Term 2 Close July 15
Enrolments are now open online for Term 3 comps.
Entries close July 15 for both competitions.
Tuesday comp starts July 19 and Friday comp starts July 22.
Reserve players always welcome. For more information, please contact or email Scott.
Sign up on the web below.
Scott Blackburn
MTC Tennis Director & Head Pro
WIMBLEDON’S STRICT DRESS CODE IS NOT ALL-WHITE | SMH
/in Goss, News /by RobMLTC Newsletter – 4 July 2022
/in Club News /by RobWe are delighted to say we have new LED lights on courts 5 and 6. A big thank you goes to our President Craig for all his work coordinating this and managing to get grants to help cover much of the cost.
Please see the photo of our Manly team when they played against our Prime Minister’s team last week.
Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
MLTC Newsletter – 29th June
/in Club News /by RobCoaching Comes Out of the Shadows
/in Ask the Pro, News /by RobOne of the last barriers separating tennis from other sports came tumbling down on Tuesday, when the ATP and even the USTA opted to allow coaching during matches on a trial basis for the rest of 2022. The trial starts immediately after Wimbledon, and when the US Open unspools in late August, it will mark the first time that any type of coaching is permitted at a Grand Slam tournament.
We know what tennis lost in this transaction: The distinction of being the one major sport in which the athlete, even in the heat of competition, must be a self-reliant problem-solver. But what did the sport gain?
One answer to that question is easy: replenished integrity.
As the popularity of tennis swelled over the years, the increasingly high stakes and a pressurized environment has led to a widespread and flagrant disregard of the rule against coaching in real time. Thus, tennis has been lurching from one coaching controversy to another—from the machinations of Ion Tiriac to the ghastly ruckus that may have cost Serena Williams her landmark 24th Grand Slam at the 2018 US Open to the recent, incessant dueling between chair umpires and the Tsitsipas family.
ESPN and Tennis Channel analyst Pam Shriver spoke for a great swath of her colleagues when she told me, “It’s time for this. Seeing how they were having a hard time enforcing the no-coaching rule, why not?”
Stefanos Tsitsipas will be able to freely communicate with his father-coach after Wimbledon. © Getty Images
Proponents of the change cite an additional potential benefit: enhanced interest among fans and television viewers. They see the rule change as a win-win, yet if history is any indication, that bonus is far from guaranteed. But there is tremendous pressure on tennis officials to make the game more marketable to a larger and less expert audience. Elite coach Brad Stine told me, “I tend to lean toward tradition in our sport. But I think this is a nice non-invasive way to produce a better overall product.”
There are prominent dissenters, though. Tennis Channel analyst Jim Courier, a former world No. 1, wrote in a text message: “I consider myself a progressive but do not support this initiative. How many tennis fans have been saying for years how much more they enjoy WTA tour matches (where coaching has long been allowed) compared to the Slams where coaching is not allowed? It is not essential to the game and is one of the things that differentiates tennis…[you] figure it out yourself.”
Courier’s skepticism is warranted. The ATP held a trial run of on-court coaching in official matches in 1999, allowing one coaching visit per set. ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert guided Andre Agassi to three titles before the ATP abandoned that experiment. But he is now adamant about eliminating the rampant cheating and convinced of the entertainment value of visible coaching.
“I was massively in favor of it (on-court coaching) in 1999, and 23 years later I still am,” Gilbert said. “There are pieces in the plan that I don’t like, but I’ll live with them just to have it. It adds a lot of plot and creativity to a match.”
One of the most powerful arguments against allowing coaching is the advantage it gives to players, like the major stars, who can afford to hire top coaching talent. “Hiring a coach used to be prohibitively expensive,” Shriver said, “But now pretty much everybody has one.”
The new ATP rules address the two most prevalent forms of illicit coaching: the use of hand signals, and furtively delivered verbal advice. Under the plan, ATP mentors will be obliged to occupy seats close to the court at opposite ends, where they will be free to use unlimited hand signals as well as communicate verbally when their proteges are on the same side of the court. But verbal communication that disrupts the flow of play or “hinders” an opponent is forbidden. Chats will have to be confined to “a few words and/or short phrases (no conversations are permitted).”
I’ll leave it to better minds than mine to determine exactly when a few words becomes a conversation. Curiously, coaches will not be allowed to chat with players when they leave the court, which looks like yet another strategy to combat the growing plague of bathroom and injury-treatment breaks. Even more curiously, endorsing on-court coaching of any kind was apparently a bridge too far for the ATP. Could it be that ATP honchos lacked enthusiasm for the WTA’s bold foray into on-court coaching?
Starting in 2009, WTA events allowed a limited number of coaching visits with players during changeovers (complete with audio for TV viewers). The approach became business-as-usual until Covid put the kibosh on it. However, it was about as interested as conversation at the 30-minute oil change. You can certainly watch it happen, but is it really that compelling?
Nobody has been clamoring for the resumption of on-court coaching. Fans—television viewers, mostly—became privy mostly to anodyne pep talks delivered to stony-faced, zoned-out players during changeovers. Apart from familiar pleas to stick the first serve or to be patient in rallies, the visits rarely produced useful strategic, tactical or personal insights. Part of the problem: No coach was honest—or dumb—enough to share nuggets of precious intel while everyone had their ear to the keyhole.
“Obviously, there will be some open talk about strategy and stuff,” ESPN analyst Jimmy Arias, the Director of the IMG Tennis Academy, predicted. “But a lot of coaching is—I don’t want to say baby-sitting—but it’s about helping a player in different ways, making everything as easy as possible to help him go out on the court relaxed.”
Coaching in real-time can be a perilous business. Arias said that the best game plan can go “out the window” if the player—who is ultimately the employer and boss of the coach—won’t or can’t execute it. An opponent also has a lot of say in the efficacy of any given strategy or tactic.
“Coaches will be 100 percent under a microscope,” said Arias, who is willing to accept the trade-off between self-reliance and greater entertainment value. “It could get very interesting. We know that some players like to take their emotions out on their coaches. I’m not sure how the coach is going to react when he says, ‘I think you should do this. . .’ And on the microphone his guy goes, ‘You’re just an idiot, go get my lunch.’”
Craig Boynton, the coach of world No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz, is more sanguine. He believes that the intense scouting and preparation that now takes place before matches leaves little room for surprises. One of his favorite quotes about coaching is, “You don’t need to teach the greats, you just need to remind them.”
Boynton, whose protege Hurcaz is shy, diligent, and self-controlled, added: “I’m looking forward to this. If I can help Hubie (Hurcaz) in any way, that’s great. It’s a positive if you can (legitimately) encourage a player, give him a little clearer direction. If you have a few different plans or ideas and he’s on the fence you can now give him a nudge in the direction you want.”
However the experiment turns out, ATP coaches will now find themselves in an unfamiliar place: the spotlight.
https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/off-court-coaching-comes-out-of-the-shadows-tennis-loses-a-distinction-but-gains
MLTC Newsletter – 21st June
/in Club News /by RobClub Captain’s Report
Round 7 of Sydney Badge was completed last Saturday and halfway through the season we have 5 teams in the top 4. We have another round this weekend and then two weeks are off for the July School Holidays.
Round 7 Results
Ladies 1 v Roseville 1 at home. Lost 7-1
Ruby Quigley played her first Badge Match and performed well losing 2 tiebreakers with Nicola.
Roseville have a very strong team including The Ladies Seaside Doubles Winners of 8 years !
Claudia/Caroline won a set against the other pair. In 6th position.
Ladies 2 Lost 6-2 away at Kooroora
Krista/Kristina 2 sets. In 8th position.
Ladies 3 Drew 3-4 at home v Chatswood
Pam/Melinda 2 sets Noriko/Suellen 1 set with 1 unfinished. In 2nd position
Thursday Ladies Lost 7-1 away at Royal Sydney
Sally/Suellen 1 set. In 5th position
Mens 1 Won 4-4 on games v Bisous away
Cam/Ben 3 sets Todd/Sean 1 set. In 4th position
Mens 2 Lost 5-3 at home v Northwest Sydney
Wilko/Netto 2 sets Howard/Craig 1 set. In 8th position
Mens 3 Drew 4-4 at home on games v Neutral Bay 2
Milton/Jon Corney reserved and won 4 sets. In 4th position
Mens 4 Lost 7-1 away at Cammeray
Bede/Larry 1 set. In 3rd position
Mens 5 Won 4-4 on games v Chatswood away
A good win against the top team.
Hugo/Denis 2 sets Chris/Richard 2 sets. In 3rd position
Mens 6 Lost 6-2 away at Mosman
Four reserves played and performed well on the Mosman grass
Brett/Lachlan 2 sets. Tony Hamilton/Ray Dalgairns also. In 5th position.
THIS SATURDAY WE HAVE 5 HOME MATCHES SO TWO SOCIAL COURTS FROM 1130AM TO 230PM
Mens 1 play home at 250pm v a strong Sydney University Team.
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
MLTC Newsletter – 7th June
/in Club News /by RobBBQ this SATURDAY from 4pm. No Badge this weekend so come down for some social tennis and then join in our BBQ and have a drink.
Club Captain’s Report
Round 6 of Badge was completed last Saturday with 4 wins for our teams.
Our Mens 4 Team which includes our 13 year old juniors Bede and Matthew remain unbeaten and now sit on top of the ladder in Division 7. We had 4 new members play their first Badge match on the weekend.
Hugo Babakian played in Division 1 Mens whilst James Graham played in Division 9 Mens.
Lachlan Carroll and Nick Brenner played in Division 10 Mens.
THIS WEEKEND IS A HOLIDAY SO SOCIAL COURTS ARE AVAILABLE ON SATURDAY AND MONDAY.
Round 6 Results
Mens 1 Lost 8-0 at home to Hills
The Hills brought their A team but most of our players were unavailable.Thanks to Hugo for playing at short notice.
Mens 2 Lost 7-1 to Zone Tennis away
Wilko/Craig 1 set. Milton/Fernando tried hard.
Mens 3 Lost 5-3 away at Neutral Bay
Dan/Vincent won 3 sets.
Mens 4 Won 6-1 away at Kooroora
Larry and Bede Kirwan won 4 sets whilst Shishir/Matthew won 2 sets with 1 unfinished.
A big match next round when they play the second team Cammeray.
Mens 5 Lost 4-3 away at Killara
Denis/Chris 2 sets with 1 unfinished. Hugo/James 1 set.
Mens 6 Won 7-1 v Neutral Bay at home.
Christo/Nick 4 sets Lachlan/Brett 3 sets.
A good win to sit just outside the top 4.
Ladies1 Won 6-2 v Western Suburbs at home
Bryanne/Nicola 4 sets Caroline /Janelle 2 sets
Ladies 2 Lost 5-3 away at Chatswood
Shelley/Kirsten 2 sets Krista/ Virginia 1 set
Ladies 3 Won 6-2 at home v Roseville
Narelle/Melinda 4 sets Lindy/Suellen 2 sets
The ladies are now second
Thursday Ladies lost 4-4 by 1 game at home v Roseville
Lindy/Sally 3 sets Johanna/ Michelle 1 set
A reminder to all teams to please clean up your plates and food after Badge otherwise it mounts up for someone else to clean. Also please don’t go onto the courts before 2.45pm for the late matches if a team is still playing.Walking on the court can interrupt concentration at a vital time in the match.
Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au
GRACIOUS, BRILLIANT, INEVITABLE: WHY NADAL IS THE SPORT’S GOAT
/in Club News, Goss /by RobWhen Rafael Nadal first burst onto the scene by winning the French Open in 2005, the consensus was he was another in the long line of great claycourt players, men who could dominate on the red surface of Roland Garros but were often vulnerable on faster surfaces.
Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander, truly great clay (and hardcourt) players, never won Wimbledon. On the flip side, Hall of Fame players like Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg could never quite figure out the red clay.
Bjorn Borg, who won in Paris six times, also won Wimbledon five times – but never the US or Australian Open. Rod Laver won on grass and clay and no doubt would have on hard courts had majors been played on them during his career. Laver could have won playing on an iceskating rink – or any other surface. Sampras won 14 major titles but never got to the final in Paris. Before Sampras came along, Roy Emerson held the record for men’s Grand Slam singles titles at 12.
On Sunday, Nadal won one for the 14th time in Paris. His record in French Open finals is now 14-0 after his crushing 6-3 , 6-3 , 6-0 victory over Casper Ruud. Ruud, who is 23, actually led 3-1 in the second set before Nadal simply took his game to another level, winning the final 11 games of the match. The Norwegian didn’t play poorly the first two sets, but he had no chance.
Nadal winning in Paris on the tournament’s final Sunday is as absolute as summer rain in London. It is inevitable. This time around, Nadal’s toughest match came in the quarterfinals , where he won a four-hourplus classic over fellow all-time great Novak Djokovic. That match clearly should have been played in the final , but that’s not alway how it turns out. And so Nadal, who has missed time with injuries this year, was the No.5 seed, because God forbid anyone should fail to follow the rankings.
Seeding Nadal fifth is roughly the same as telling Tiger Woods to go play the AAA Korn Ferry Tour after he won his first Masters by 12 shots. Nadal, in any case, long ago proved he was far more than a claycourt specialist. His victory was his 22nd Grand Slam title, putting him two in front of Djokovic and Roger Federer.
If you held a final vote for greatest player of all time today, Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, would have to be No. 1. Statistics are overused, but a handful of Nadal’s numbers go beyond breathtaking. He is 112-3 at Roland Garros (what?) , but he has won eight majors off the red clay: two Australian Opens; two Wimbledons and four US Opens.
That’s as many majors as icons Connors, Andre Agassi and Lendl each won total, and one more than McEnroe. What’s most fascinating about all this is that last year the title of greatest player ever had been more or less ceded to Djokovic. He had beaten Nadal on his way to winning in Paris in June and had gone on to win at Wimbledon in July, putting him in a three-way tie with Nadal and Federer with 20 major victories.
Federer turned 40 in August and had lost in the Wimbledon quarters to Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets, including 6-0 in the third. He then announced he needed knee surgery, again, and hoped to play again in 2022. He still hasn’t played and, as McEnroe noted on Sunday, there’s a good chance we will never see him again in a major championship.
After his semi-final loss to Djokovic at Roland Garros, Nadal had pulled out of Wimbledon and the US Open with recurring foot issues . Many wondered if his career might also be over. Thus, Djokovic’s path to a 21st major victory and the record in major wins appeared clear. He was 34, healthy and going for a calendar Grand Slam in New York. His two great rivals were older and injured. But then Daniil Medvedev whipped him in the US Open final and his refusal to be vaccinated in the midst of the pandemic got him deported from Australia before the Australian Open. Nadal then came from two sets down in the Australian final against Medvedev and became the first man to get to 21 major wins.
Sunday, he got to 22 and, apparently , at 36, is still counting. He’s now halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished on the men’s side since Laver did it in 1969 at a time when three of the four majors were still played on grass.
Djokovic, who has won at Wimbledon six times, will no doubt be poised to take him down there. And, although Nadal won one of the two greatest matches of all time (along with McEnroe-Borg in 1980) in the 2008 final at the All England Club, grass is still his toughest surface because he can’t wear people down the way he does in Paris, and to a lesser extent in New York and Melbourne , over shorter rallies and shorter matches. That is a discussion for another day.
Sunday was a day to revel in Nadal’s extraordinary career, his ability to come back time and again, whether from injury or from a point in which his opponent appeared to be in control. That’s the greatness of Nadal: You can get him down, but it is almost impossible to get him out. Nadal has now heard his anthem played on a French Open Sunday 14 times. The emotion on his face made it clear that he still revels in every victory. As we all should.
The Washington Post
Fantastic 14! Nadal Defeats Ruud For Another Roland Garros Title
/in Club News /by RobRafael Nadal captured his 14th Roland Garros title and a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam trophy Sunday, dispatching Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 to write another chapter into his historic legacy.
By earning a 22nd Grand Slam crown, the Spaniard has moved further clear of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the Grand Slam race, with the Serbian and Swiss tied on 20 major titles.
It is the first time Nadal has won the Australian Open and Roland Garros trophies in the same season and he is now level with countryman Carlos Alcaraz on a Tour-leading four titles in 2022 after improving to 112-3 at the clay-court major.
“For me personally, it is very difficult to describe the feelings that I have. It is something that I have never believed. To be here at 36, being competitive again on the most important court of my career,” Nadal said during the trophy ceremony. “One more title means a lot. It means a lot of energy to try and keep going…I don’t know what can happen in the future but I am going to keep fighting to try and keep going.”
Most Grand Slam Men’s Singles Titles (all-time)
Nadal’s achievement in Paris is even more remarkable considering that he struggled with a chronic foot injury in defeat to Denis Shapovalov in Rome little more than three weeks ago.
However, he showcased his trademark fighting qualities throughout the fortnight in Paris to ensure he would maintain his stranglehold on the Coupe des Mousquetaires, improving to a remarkable 14-0 in Roland Garros finals.
”Team, family, everyone who is there. It is amazing the things that are happening this year,” Nadal said. “I just thank you very, very much for all the things you are doing for me and over the years. Without you none of this would be possible, without any doubt. Especially in the very tough moments we went through with injuries.
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-ruud-roland-garros-2022-final-sunday
2022 Forster Seniors Tennis Tournament Entry Form
/in Foster Seniors, News /by Rob