The setting was familiar. Rafael Nadal was leading the third set 5-2 and serving at 40-0. One more point on his serve and he would be bursting into his trademark celebrations. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a sight that repeats itself so regularly. Familiarity may or may not breed contempt but it certainly breeds apathy. It’s hard now to be excited about Nadal yet again making a joke out of an entire slam without breaking a sweat (or dropping a set), as much as we’d like to pretend otherwise.
So, seeing Nadal serve at 40-0, with three Championship points at his disposal, in addition to the anticipation, there is also relief that it was all coming to an end. Given the prosaic routine that he has brought the French Open, few could complain that it was over.
But Nadal seldom holds his serves to love. That tall lightning-quick first serve that leaves the opponents dumbfounded isn’t quite up his alley. Even while consolidating on a break of serve, he rarely exudes the kind of confidence his fans wished he would. And to no one’s surprise, he failed to win any of the three Championship points.
Now, this wouldn’t have seemed concerning at all had Nadal not experienced a freakish cramp in his wrist midway into the third set. It looked serious and it was imperative that he close the match off at the first opportunity. But Dominic Thiem, his opponent for the day, was more than generous in not delaying the inevitable, and the world rose for the eleventh time to celebrate Nadal’s monotonous success.
An inflection in 2017
In 2014, when he won his ninth French Open title, he was in the middle of a great run, playing some of the finest tennis he’s ever played. Nobody would have put their money against him completing the much-heralded decima the next year itself. Nadal need not even have been playing at his imperious best to conquer the clay in Paris. But there was something about the elusive nature of the number 10 that it didn’t fall into his lap without a hitch, as most would have thought.
2015 is when Paris humanised Nadal – but that was not entirely unprecedented. Nadal had been here before. The key difference between the two instances was the quarterfinal loss to Robin Soderling in 2009 still remains one of the greatest upsets in the sport’s history. In 2015, on the other hand, the very buildup to Nadal’s campaign was clouded with pessimism; not even the most ardent of his supporters backed him to claim the decima.
The eventual quarterfinal loss to Novak Djokovic came after a dejected performance at the end of which Nadal almost cut a sorry figure. His form, fitness, and game were all met with intense scrutiny and it didn’t look like things would be normal again soon. His performance in the subsequent grand slams didn’t help either.
A year later, another disappointing outing in Paris followed, where his campaign was cut short by a wrist injury after the third round. The rest of the season didn’t inspire much optimism. The ‘finished’ tag is rather loosely thrown to describe an athlete going through an extended rough patch – but it didn’t look totally out of place for Nadal. He looked jaded, stoic and defeated. The unseeded ones, the perennial underachievers, and even those well past their best years found ways get past him and attain fleeting fame. All of this, when the other two all time greats of his time – Djokovic and Roger Federer – were playing exceptionally well.
But then 2017 happened. After coming agonisingly close to winning his second Australian Open title, it was amply clear that Nadal had hit top gear once more. And that winning at Roland Garros for a historic tenth was simply a matter of time. Not only did Nadal win the title that year, he did so with absolute disdain and a sense of authority that had been long missing in his game.
Without dropping a single set over the course of two weeks, Nadal demonstrated ruthlessness even against those with tall reputations. Stanislas Wawrinka, his opponent at the finals, had rightfully earned his spot there at the expense of Andy Murray, after a gripping five-setter in the semifinal, but rarely would a player have looked as much of a misfit for a final as Wawrinka did that day. Nadal was fierce and flawless.
One of the most coveted milestones had been conquered – exposing him to the phase in one’s life when complacency threatens to breed. The truest test of one’s character lies in resisting the laxity that comes with prodigious success. Winning at the Roland Garros for the eleventh time was perhaps even more important than the tenth one. What one achieves with having nothing left to prove anymore demarcates the territory exclusive to a handful of sportspeople. By most means, it is possible that nobody is going to come close to achieving Nadal’s dominance of a surface any time soon. And yet, his hunger over the last two weeks in Paris was reminiscent of a 19-year-old who took the world by storm in 2005.
A question of when, not if
The pronounced forehand down-the-line winners, the backhand cross-court returns, the impregnable defence off the baseline and a measured yet aggressive net-play were all on show – even as Nadal had to deal with a couple of stumbling blocks. Some may argue the weather interruption allowed him the time to pull his socks up and channel his aggression. Nadal cut an abject figure for most of 2015 and 2016, consistently failing to hit returns deep in the opponent’s court and to generate any substantial power in his forehand – and they have been the two most improved elements of his game since the start of 2017. And that has been even more evident in his game on surfaces he has allegedly not mastered.
The criticism of being found wanting outside the surface of his preference is rooted in cynicism and stereotypes. That his grand slam record is perhaps the least diverse compared to his peers is entirely due to his ridiculous dominance of one surface and not due to his inability to adjust to the others. To put things in perspective, his non-clay slam count is six – a number Murray and Wawrinka match together with their overall slam record.
That is not to say Nadal couldn’t do better on other surfaces. There is definitely room for greater diversity in his overall title tally. But he does recognise this and it has showed. His performance at the Wimbledon last year, despite the early fourth round exit, was his best since 2011, when he’d finished second. He currently holds the US Open title. Of course, one must concede his late surge has a lot to do with the major slump in form and fitness that both Djokovic and Murray have experienced. But someone’s loss is someone else’s gain. It is a fundamental rule of the universe.
Of course, Nadal is not going to magically start giving the world a masterclass in serve and volley at Wimbledon later this month. He is still going to stand annoyingly deep from the baseline even when returning on the second serve. He is still going to remain circumspect while consolidating after a break of serve. He is still going to lack the sucker punch with which a Federer would hold a crucial serve to love.
But against all odds, after nearly two years of isolation, Nadal is operating on full throttle one more time. This period has coincided with Federer also upping his game, which belies conventional wisdom and has prevented Nadal from closing the gap. But given the age difference between the two, and the desire and determination that has been on show of late, there’s good reason to believe Nadal being crowned the most decorated player of all time is a question of when and not if.
Parth Pandya is an Ahmedabad-based freelance sports writer.