{"id":15664,"date":"2018-06-10T17:50:45","date_gmt":"2018-06-10T22:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=15664"},"modified":"2018-06-10T17:50:45","modified_gmt":"2018-06-10T22:50:45","slug":"rafael-nadal-wins-11th-tournoi-de-roland-garros-french-open-championnats-internationaux-de-france-de-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=15664","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal Wins 11th “Tournoi de Roland-Garros” French Open “Championnats Internationaux de France de tennis”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rafael Nadal smashed his way to victory in three sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; has won 17 major titles in Men\u2019s Tennis.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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\"Rafael<\/div>\n
Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a backhand during the men\u2019s singles final of the French Open “Championnats Internationaux de France de tennis”<\/i>\u00a0against Dominic Thiem of Austria.<\/span> <\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

PARIS\u2014As he sat down in the French Open lounge on Saturday, G\u00fcnter Bresnik, Dominic Thiem\u2019s coach, was asked about Thiem\u2019s upcoming French Open final against Rafael Nadal, the finest clay court tennis player of all time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, he could get destroyed,\u201d Bresnik said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To Thiem\u2019s credit, he played for broke in Sunday\u2019s final, going for winners and big serves<\/a>. He tried to attack Nadal\u2019s backhand. He hit drop shots. He returned serves from close to the baseline, to give Nadal less time to hit the ball. But in the end, none of it mattered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Nadal absorbed the blows and then smashed his way to victory in three sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. His biggest struggle came when he led 2-1 in the third set, while serving. He called in a trainer because his left forearm, already heavily taped, suddenly gave him a cramp. (Nadal holds the racket with his left hand.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cBecause it was quick in that moment, and for me was scary, because I felt that I was not able to move the hand, the finger,\u201d Nadal said. \u201cWhen I take the bandage out, the things improved.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the 11th time Nadal, 32 years old, has won the French Open, a number of victories here that will likely never be matched by anyone (his record is 11-0 in finals). His first came in 2005, when he was 19 years old (he beat Roger Federer in the semifinals of that year\u2019s tournament). Now, at age 32, Nadal isn\u2019t as fast as he once was, but he\u2019s a more complete player than ever before. His serve, forehand, backhand, volleys and drop shots have no weaknesses. Nadal won 16 of 18 attempts while at the net, as solid a statistic as a player can produce.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The first set was close, with Nadal and Thiem, 24 years old, trading service breaks.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But with Nadal leading 5-4, Thiem fell in to a love-40 hole on his serve and couldn\u2019t recover. Nadal led the rest of the match from there, taking an early lead in the second set and doing the same in the third.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"On the final point, Thiem hit the ball long and Nadal turned around, dropped his racket and raised his arms to celebrate. He later held up his trophy and began to cry as the audience in the Philippe Chatrier court cheered for him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my career, I achieved much more than what I ever dreamed,\u201d Nadal said. \u201cThat minute or two minutes of the crowd supporting, that feeling in that moment was difficult to describe.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all his qualities, Nadal\u2019s most important asset is he still plays the sport as if he were a child starting the game for the first time in his life. His concentration during every point is impeccable and his strategy sublime. Nadal and tennis, especially on clay, is like perfect marriages, ones that last until time ends.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only three men have beaten Nadal on clay three times or more (Novak Djokovic, who won the French Open in 2016, has done it seven times, more than anyone else).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thiem won his third clay match against Nadal this year, in Madrid. Thiem has long admired Nadal and, when he was a child, hoped to compete like Nadal one day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he won here the first time, actually when he won here the first four or five times, I was always watching it,\u201d Thiem said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beating Nadal on clay is a feat, but winning at the five-set French Open is a different story. Nadal is now 86-2 here, a remarkable career that no one ever dreamed would happen. Darren Cahill, who coached Simona Halep to her first Grand Slam title in Saturday\u2019s women\u2019s final, said someone in clay court tennis should never have produced anything like this.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou mentally have to be tough, physically you have to be strong and you need a little bit of luck,\u201d Cahill said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to be able to do it once, imagine doing it 10 times.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"For Nadal, the title is another chapter in a remarkable career. He has now won 17 major titles in men\u2019s tennis, behind only Federer, who has won 20. He lost just one match on clay this season. At the French Open, he lost just one set in the entire tournament, in the quarterfinals. Nadal\u2019s dominance at the French Open is beyond comparison in tennis\u2014there has never been anything like it in any sport.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYears ago I thought it would be impossible to win five or six French Opens,\u201d Bresnik said. \u201cNadal is there for eternity, there is no doubt. No one will break it, never, ever again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nadal said he was amazed this has happened, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you tell me seven, eight years ago that I will be here 32 years old having this trophy with me again, I will tell you that is something almost impossible,\u201d he said. \u201cBut here we are.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next up for Nadal: Wimbledon, which he has won twice in his career. But whatever happens there, Nadal said he plans to continue until he can\u2019t play like Nadal anymore.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am just trying to keep enjoying,\u201d Nadal said. \u201cWhen that change, will be a time to do another thing, and I am not worried about this.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"MORE ON RAFAEL NADAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

@RafaelNadal<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

Rafael “Rafa” Nadal Parera\u00a0is a Spanish professional tennis<\/a> player, currently ranked<\/a> world No. 1<\/a> in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals<\/a> (ATP).<\/sup> Known as “The King of Clay”,[a]<\/a><\/sup> he is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court<\/a> player in history.<\/sup> Nadal’s evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nadal has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles<\/a>, a record 32 ATP World Tour Masters 1000<\/a> titles, a record 20 ATP World Tour 500<\/a> tournaments, and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles<\/a>. In majors, Nadal has won 11 French Open<\/a> titles, 3US Open<\/a> titles, 2 Wimbledon<\/a> titles, and one Australian Open<\/a> title. He was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team<\/a> in 2004<\/a>, 2008<\/a>, 2009<\/a>, and 2011<\/a>. In 2010, he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of five in the Open Era<\/a> to achieve the Career Grand Slam<\/a> at age 24. He is the second male player, after Andre Agassi<\/a>, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam<\/a>. In 2011, Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year<\/a>.<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Rafael Nadal smashed his way to victory in three sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; has won 17 major titles in Men\u2019s Tennis. Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a backhand during the men\u2019s singles final of the French Open “Championnats Internationaux de France de tennis”\u00a0against Dominic Thiem of Austria. PARIS\u2014As he sat down in the French Open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,1314,1456,1156,13,14,1,7,9,10],"tags":[2713,2712,2708,2711,2707,2709,2710],"class_list":["post-15664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entertainment","category-global-business-entrepreneurs","category-global-news-updates-and-more","category-global-sports","category-health","category-most-commented","category-news","category-sports","category-us","category-world","tag-rafaelnadal","tag-2712","tag-balearic-islands","tag-born-right-handed-coach-toni-nadal-1990-20171-francisco-roig-2005-2-carlos-moya-2016-3-prize-money-us98","tag-rafael-nadal-rafael-nadal-smiling-nadal-in-2016-full-name-rafael-nadal-parera-country-sports-spain-residence-manacor","tag-spain-born-3-june-1986-age-32-manacor","tag-spain-height-1-85-m-6-ft-1-in-turned-pro-2001-plays-left-handed-two-handed-backhand","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}