Nadal’s retirement: the matches that forged his legend

Rafael Nadal will end his immense career in November, at the end of the Davis Cup finals. Crowned “King of Clay,” he won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, but he delivered epic battles on every surface. Selected pieces.

On the way to the first Major
2005. Federer was aiming for a fifth Grand Slam title at age 23, the first in Paris. But that day, the young Spaniard, aged 18, who had won three clay court titles in the previous weeks, made a name for himself. Nadal beat the Swiss 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-final. Two days later, the Mallorcan won the first of his 22 Grand Slam titles.

The turning point
In 2007, Federer won 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 for his 5th consecutive title at Wimbledon, but following this match, we say that Nadal is much more close to beating Federer in his London garden as the Swiss is to beating the Spaniard on Parisian clay.

2008, spanking
It is the severity of the score that makes this match incredible: Nadal played almost perfectly to humiliate Federer, world No.1, with a clear score of 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.

Victory at dusk
2008 still. The rivalry between the two men is already well established and the Spaniard almost brought down the Swiss in his kingdom the previous year. This time, after 4h48 of a game interrupted several times by rain and as night fell, Nadal won the match point at 9:16 p.m. with a score of 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7 ), 6-7(8/10), 9-7, ending Federer’s run of five Wimbledon titles. This meeting is the most famous in the history of tennis with the Borg-McEnroe of 1980, at the same place.

Tireless
In 2009, Nadal won his first title in Melbourne by beating Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(7/3), 3-6, 6-2 and almost 4h30 of very high level tennis. In the semi-finals, he had already fought 5h14 to dismiss Fernando Verdasco. Defeated, Federer could not hold back his tears during the trophy ceremony.

The Missing Middle Finger
In 2010, the US Open was the last one missing from Nadal’s record. Despite the confidence built up from his victory against Federer in the semi-final, Djokovic was unable to stop the Spaniard. Nadal won 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 at 24.

The marathon
Novak Djokovic won 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in 5 hours 53 minutes at the 2012 Australian Open, making it the longest to date final of a Grand Slam tournament. The Serb concluded on Monday at 1:37 a.m. a match which had started on Sunday evening.

Unbreakable
2019, US Open final. After two sets quietly won, Nadal was surprised by the return of a young, still unknown 23-year-old Russian with a strange game, Daniil Medvedev. Pushed into the fifth set, the 33-year-old Spaniard proved that he never gives up and won in 4h51 of an epic fight 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4.

The lesson
The same year, the edition of the Major on clay was played in the fall because of the covid pandemic which prevented it from being held in the spring. Wet, windy and cold conditions are all obstacles on the road to a 13th Parisian title for Nadal. And we say to ourselves that Djokovic has his chance to beat the king of the earth in the final of “his” tournament. In fact, the Spaniard corrects the Serbian 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 and equals the record of 20 Grand Slam titles held since 2018 by Federer.

Revenge
2021, Roland Garros semi-final. Djokovic played the match of his life on clay and won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 after a match of rarely equaled quality and tension. Nadal later confessed to suffering from a foot injury and played only two more matches that season, withdrawing from Wimbledon and the US Open.

Stunning
A year later, trailing two sets to nothing against Medvedev, the Majorcan managed to win 2-6, 6-7(5/7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 after 5h24 of match for offer themselves a historic 21st Grand Slam title, one more than Federer and Djokovic. However, he contracted covid-19 in December and missed six months of competition in 2021 due to his painful left foot.

Relentless despite doubts
We are still in 2022. Nadal arrives at Roland-Garros very unprepared because of his pain in his left foot (he remains eliminated in the round of 16 in Rome, one of his only two tournaments played on earth with that of Madrid, where the pain had become unbearable). Opposite, Djokovic is in ascending form, very close to his best level, and intends to equal the record for Grand Slam titles. But against all odds, it was Nadal who won 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 and opened the way to a 14th title on Parisian clay and a 22nd Major that he won at the age of 36 against the young Norwegian Casper Ruud.

Sami Nemli With Agency / ECO Inspirations