Tennis-Few obstacles lie between Nadal and record 21st major
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[May 27, 2021]
MADRID (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal
has already hoisted the French Open trophy a jaw dropping 13 times
and with the tantalising prospect of increasing his Grand Slam haul
to 21 -- thus becoming the most successful player in men's tennis --
it is difficult to see anyone stopping him in Paris.
The Mallorcan will turn 35 during the tournament but shows little
sign of slowing down. By triumphing in Barcelona and Rome for a 12th
and 10th time respectively, he won two of the four tournaments he
had entered in the run-up to the claycourt major.
Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev may have comfortably beaten Nadal
in Monte Carlo and Madrid respectively but as anyone who has
encountered Nadal at Roland Garros knows, beating the Spaniard in a
best-of-five-set claycourt match is the ultimate challenge in
tennis.
Since his debut Paris appearance in 2005, it has happened only
twice.

Those searching for weaknesses in Nadal's armour could take heart from
the Spaniard's losses to Rublev and Zverev as well as the fact he
recently dropped sets on clay against Denis Shapovalov and Kei Nishikori.
Nadal being outclassed 6-1 on red dirt is also a rare sight, as was the
case in the second set of the Rome final against Novak Djokovic.
But he has a habit of truly coming into his own at Roland Garros, as his
100-2 win-loss record testifies.
He shrugged off injury problems on his way to victory in 2019 and also
blasted his way to the 2020 title without dropping a set in the
rescheduled tournament last October despite hardly playing any matches
in the run-up due to coronavirus concerns.
While other players complained of the unfamiliar autumn conditions in
the French capital, Nadal stormed his way to the final before thrashing
Djokovic 6-0 6-2 7-5 to tie Roger Federer's men's record of 20 Grand
Slam titles.
Nadal said he had a "complete" tournament in Rome and was in optimal
shape for the looming trip to Paris, which he called "the most important
place in my career".
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Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates winning
his third round match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov REUTERS/Guglielmo
Mangiapane

"I'll be working on things that I need
to improve and I also need to relax on a mental level," he said.
"Winning always gives you a boost and it's evidently better to
arrive at Roland Garros with this trophy in my arms."
Two-time French Open finalist Alex Corretja believes the only thing
standing in Nadal's way to yet another title could be the physical
strain of energy-sapping matches in the latter rounds.
"It's getting closer to be more and more difficult for him but
winning Barcelona and especially Rome was crucial to him, to feel
like, OK, I am still the best on clay ever," Corretja, who will
commentate on the tournament for Eurosport, told Reuters.
"Imagine Rafa faces (Stefanos) Tsitsipas in quarter-finals, Novak in
the semis and (Dominic) Thiem in the final, there's a big doubt
about how fresh he would be. It could affect the result.
"But Rafa is the only one who knows how to deal mentally with these
tough draws, especially on clay, how to recover, play important
moments. To play him over five sets on clay is like a nightmare
because he brings such a high energy from the beginning."
(Reporting by Richard Martin, additional reporting by Martyn Herman,
editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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