Kings battle and conquer, gods on
the other hand, just have to show up.
Rafael Nadal has long been prasied
as the King of Clay. He earned this name in his early 20s by beating the then
presumably best on the surface, Guillermo Coria and consistently beating the
best in the business, Roger Federer on red clay all over the world.
He won Master titles on the trot, multiple
French Open championships and kept cementing his position in tennis as the best
of his era on clay, probably the best ever to grace the red courts.
Rafael Nadal celebrating with the
trophy after each of his Monte Carlo Masters title wins. AFP
With his 10th title at the Monte
Carlo Masters 1000 tournament, Nadal has once again rewritten the history books
by becoming the first man in the Open Era to win the same tournament 10 times.
What is worth noting is the fact
that Nadal also remains the only male player to win a tournament nine times
(French Open and Barcelona). Roland Garros, Monte Carlo and Barcelona all
happen to be clay court tournaments.
The title win in Monte Carlo was
Nadal’s 50th title win on clay and the Spaniard is now the clear leader on the
list of most titles won on the surface (surpassing Guillermo Vilas’ 49).
Here is why Nadal deserves to be
called the God of Clay now:
81
Nadal once rode an 81-match winning
streak on the surface between 2005 and 2007. It is the longest winning streak
by a male player on a particular surface in the Open Era. The second longest
such streak amounted to 46-wins in contrast, and is owned by Vilas.
50
Nadal now has 50 clay court titles
in his trophy collection. With the win in Monte Carlo, he broke a year-long tie
with Vilas and became the outright leader in this category. What’s worth
mentioning is the fact that Nadal has lost only 34 matches to reach this feat,
while Vilas lost 157 matches on clay en route his 49 titles.
46
Between 2005 and 2013, Nadal won 46
consecutive matches at the Monte Carlo Masters, which is a record for most
consecutive wins at one tournament by any player in the Open Era. The streak
started in the first round of the 2005 edition with a victory over Gael Monfils,
and ended in the final of the 2013 edition with a straight-sets loss to Novak
Djokovic.
10
Nadal is now the first player on the
men’s circuit to complete the 'decima' at a single event in the Open Era. Nadal
is also second on the list of most titles won at the same event, with nine wins
each at Roland Garros and Barcelona.
9
Nadal also holds the record for most
titles at the same Grand Slam event with nine title wins at the French Open. No
other man has won more than seven and one would only imagine Nadal will have a
few more shots left at completing the 'decima' on the red clay of Paris.
1
Nadal is the only player in the
history of the sport to have won the three Masters 1000 tournaments on clay
(Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid) and the French Open, all in the same year. Nadal
accomplished this feat of the Clay Slam in the 2010 campaign.
Whatever you call him God or King,
Nadal is, at this point, going in the history books as the Greatest Of All Time
(GOAT) on the red dirt around the world.
The best part is that he in the
pursuit of challenging the limits of his own greatness. Let’s see what the rest
of the season has to offer.
