17 years separate Rafa Nadal’s first monumental success, at Roland Garros 2005, from number 21, the one won this Sunday on the Melbourne track. The man from Manacor thus becomes the tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles, surpassing Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by one. From Paris to Australia, passing through London and New York, the Mallorcan has left his mark on the four most important tournaments on the circuit. And he has done it despite the injuries he has suffered and with impressive longevity. He was a 19-year-old boy when he won his first Musketeers cup and, on his way to 36, he has achieved his second Australian major after spending half a year without playing due to physical problems.
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Of his 21 major titles, 13 have come at Roland Garros, a tournament in which he is the lord and master, in which he has broken all records and in which he has written unforgettable pages. Nobody has dominated a competition like Nadal in Paris, while Djokovic planted his garden in Australia (9 titles) and Federer ruled Wimbledon (8 titles).
It all started in 2005 when the Spaniard beat Argentine Mariano Puerta in Paris after beating Federer in the semifinals. He would successfully defend the Parisian crown in 2006, 2007 and 2008, editions in which he beat the Swiss genius in the final. In the last of this series he humiliated him and only let him win four games.
Shortly after his first big came away from France. It was at Wimbledon 2008, in a match that has entered the annals of sport as a colossal final, with stops due to rain, with emotion and with triumph when the day faded. Nadal beat Federer in his grass territory. 9-7 in the fifth set for the Balearic Islands.
By then the Majorcan had the Swiss’ morale, who would make him cry by also beating him in the final of the 2009 Australian Open, his only title in Melbourne until this Sunday.
Tyranny
Nobody has dominated any trophy as Nadal has done at Roland Garros
Nadal, after beating Federer at Wimbledon 2008)
He already had six grand in his pocket, in three different settings. Only New York was missing, although before succeeding in Flushing Meadows he would add another Roland Garros (against Söderling) and a second Wimbledon (against Berdych) to his record.
2010 was magical for Nadal, who would win the US Open in another epic match, this time against Djokovic. He thus became the seventh tennis player capable of reigning in the big four.
Having the entire collection did not make him settle and, like a cyclone, he expanded the album with four more wins in a row at Roland Garros (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). Along the way he would lift a second US Open, also beating Djokovic.
There were already 14 majors but then there was a break, between injuries and frustrations. 2015 and 2016 were years without great joy for the man from Manacor, who would recover in 2017. He would be reunited with victory, of course, at Roland Garros, where he gave a good account of Wawrinka.
It was the prelude to his third Flushing Meadows, which came against the surprising Kevin Anderson.
Rafael Nadal celebrates the victory that made him the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open after beating Roger Federer in Melbourne in 2009,
Tennis player Rafa Nadal bites the US Open champion trophy, the only Grand Slam he had left to win, in 2010
Of all the colors
The Mallorcan ate Federer’s morale, was able to beat Djokovic and beat emerging rivals like Medvedev or Thiem
In 2018 he would add a new Roland Garros, now against another rival, the Austrian Dominic Thiem, and in 2019 he would eternalize his dominance in Paris, repeating victory against the same opponent.
More remembered, for tight and exciting, was his victory against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, an emerging rival that took him to the limit of five sets in the final of the US Open. 2019. Fourth Flushing Meadows in the saddlebags and 19 great .
One was missing to equal Roger Federer and this came, the twentieth Grand Slam, in his promised land of Paris. It was in October 2020, at the Roland Garros of the pandemic, outside his usual calendar, and giving a good account of Novak Djokovic.
Since this Sunday, by beating Medvedev in Australia, Nadal is already unique. Nobody is 21.
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