Rafael Nadal Wins Fench Open 2010 Tennis Championship

was the second best player at Roland Garros this year.  His road to the finals was hard earned.  The Swede defeated Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych along the way.  He earned his berth against Nadal in Sunday’s final.

On Sunday on Court Phillipe Chartier, Rafa proved there exists a broad gap between the best clay court player of the generation and everyone else.  The 24-year old Spaniard did not lose one set against seven quality opponents.  Imagine defeating the likes of Jurgen Melzer, Nicolas Almagro, Robin Soderling and Lleyton Hewitt without losing one set.  Remarkable!  Simply remarkable!  But, not unprecedented.

In fact he did the same thing in 2008.  Ille Nastase won at Roland Garros without losing a set in 1973 and Bjorn Borg, who holds six French Open titles, did not lose a set in his 1978 and 1980 titles.  Frankly the talent pool is deeper today than in the Bjorg era and much deeper than in the Nastase days.

Nadal’s glorious 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 thrashing of Soderling is his twenty-first consecutive clay court triumph.  He swept the clay court tour winning at Monte Carlo, Rome, and Madrid before arriving in Paris.  In the modern era, this has never been done.  Nadal is that good.  Most players cannot stay focused for that length of time.  Most players cannot survive the mental fatigue that sets in with each tournament and each match.  Rafael Nadal is not like most players.  He is Rafa, the best clay court player of a generation and perhaps of all time.

The man is 24 years old!  With the win, he is the top ranked tennis player in the world.  He is the first player to qualify for the Barclays ATP Tour Finals.  The Queen of Spain came to witness his greatness.  He thanked Her Majesty.  Nadal now possesses seven Grand Slam titles.  He will win more.  He has won 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophies.  His win over Bellucci was his 200^th clay court win.  Again, Rafa is 24-years young.

Soderling understands the difficult of upsetting Federer and Nadal in one event, a feat he was attempting to accomplish.  But, Soderling is a realist and a gracious runnerup for the second year in a row.  “I have to congratulate Rafa for his fifth victory here.  It’s really impressive and if he continues to play like this he will have a chance to win many more.”

Soderling came out fast.  He threatened to break in the fourth game but was turned away.  When Rafa held, he turned on the pressure.  He began to hit deeper returns and as always took command of the pace of play.  The Spaniard broke through in the fifth game and almost won the seventh, but Soderling made a courageous hold.  Nadal served out the set.

Set two began poorly for the unnerved, highly pressured Swede.  Nadal repelled four Soderling break opportunities in the second game.  Again, Soderling broke at love in the fifth game and then in the seventh.  The Swede was frustrated that he could not find a chink in the Spaniard’s armor.

Nadal broke again in the first game of set three and the served out the match.  Soderling played well, very well.  Well enough to beat most of the tour players.  Nadal is not one of the guys when it comes to clay.

What is also clear is that Nadal plays the pressure points better than anyone. When his back is against the wall, he has the ability to lift his play.  He changes pace, changes spin, changes tempo with ease. He is always in position and is fleet afoot.

What more can one ask?  Kudos to the world’s greatest clay court tennis player.  What an event he had!

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