He becomes the first man or woman in the Open Era, which began in 1968, to win 10 titles at a Grand Slam.
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15 – Victory sent Nadal clear of Pete Sampras’ haul of 14 grand slam triumphs, with the Spaniard also having won the US Open and Wimbledon twice each and the Australian Open once.
Posting his 15th major victory, and moving into outright second place behind Roger Federer (18) for the most major titles, the Spanish bull completed a phenomenal tournament with a devastating final display.
Everyone expected a Nadal clinch the French Open title, considering how he dominated the clay court season this year.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal holds the cup after defeating Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Sunday, June 11, 2017 in Paris.
Rafael Nadal the victor then, with a tenth French Open crown in just 13 years as the tennis world now turns its collective attention to the grass-court season and Wimbledon. “It’s the most important tournament in my career and to win again is something I can’t describe”. Thereafter it was all one-way as Nadal won five straight games and set 6-2. Nadal is now 20-0 all-time in the semifinals and finals in France. It is hard to compare this tournament to any other.
An unseeded player has not won the French Open since 1933.
“I’m sure Stan will take a few minutes to figure out how high the ball is bouncing and where to hit his one-handed backhand from”, Wilander, working for Eurosport on the broadcaster’s flagship “Game Set and Mats” show, said. The 35-year-old Swiss superstar made a decision to forego the 2017 French Open.
“I think it’s something extremely remarkable that could be compared to the greatest achievements of any other, probably, athlete in any other sport”.
“Two weeks or three weeks ago, I was really down, not winning matches in Masters 1000, not playing my best tennis, a lot in doubt in my game when I was playing”, Wawrinka said. It takes him four clear of the 49 clay titles won by Vilas, whose record the Spaniard surpassed by winning at Monte Carlo in April.
Instead of his usual style, Wawrinka’s unforced error count climbed into the double figures by the fourth game, where Nadal’s stood at just 12 for the entire match.
“He’s playing the best he’s ever played”, the third-seeded Wawrinka told a news conference after watching Nadal collect the trophy.
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Sunday was also the first time since 1969 that the Roland Garros final had featured two men over 30.
