“La Decima” Rafael Nadal adds 10th title to clay court haul
If the beginning hard court season was Roger Federer’s, the spring clay courts of Europe are being ruled by his great rival, Rafael Nadal, with a historic 10th win in Barcelona, beating Austria’s Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1.
Just last week Rafael Nadal set the record for most clay titles, beating Guillermo Vilas, with 50 titles, and also set the record for most titles at a tennis tournament, with his 10th at Monte Carlo, in a two-set dominant win over Albert Ramos Viñolas. A testament to his greatness, the “King of Clay” did it again on Sunday, in the stadium that was named after him earlier this week, in a straight sets win over world number nine Dominic Thiem.
At age 30, like his legendary rival Federer, Nadal is showing no signs of slowing down and is the undisputed complete master of clay. Although Federer won the hard court Masters 1000 titles and the first grand slam of the year, Nadal has collected the other Masters 1000 tournament win last week and is the favorite at Roland Garros. By the time we’re half way through the tennis year, both rivals could be tied at 1one grand slam each, having increased their overall slam hauls to 18 and 15, and two Masters 1000 titles each (Madrid comes up next week, where Nadal is again a clear favorite).
Both Federer and Nadal are now closer in accumulated ATP points. Roger Federer is ranked four and Nadal is five, but either player has a chance of moving to number one by the end of the year, with the Spaniard likely to take the top spot by the time Wimbledon rolls around. Federer is likely to make it to at least number two by the summer if he picks up where he left off once he’s back for grass season, or sooner, depending on if he joins at the end of the clay season for the French Open grand slam.
In the meantime, the 14-time grand slam champ is on a tear in the European clay season. He has lost only one set so far on clay this year and now holds 51 record titles on the surface. With the win in Barcelona, he’s collected 500 more ATP points and is now within 300 points of leader Federer in the ATP Race to London at the ATP Finals tournament at the end of the year.
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This time last year, nobody saw this coming. The Renaissance of Roger Federer at the beginning of the year was fascinating to watch, including facing his great rival in two enthralling finals. Now on the “orange dirt,” the spring Renaissance of Rafael Nadal is equally captivating. Who knows how many titles the Spaniard will add to his roster by the end of the spring of clay? As of now, it looks endless.