On the 5th of June in 2022 (Yesterday), it was hammered home yet again that Rafael Nadal is truly the king of clay courts. During his search for the 14th French Open title and 22nd Grand Slam, the Spaniard had it very easy against Novak Djokovic in the quarters and then the rub of the green went in his favour when an injury-scarred Alexander Zverev gave up his French Open campaign midway through the Semi-Final contest. In the Roland Garros finale, Nadal beat Casper Rudd by dropping a mere six games. Hence, this happened to be one of his quickest French Open campaigns. Now, let us delve into some of the other swiftest victories of Rafael Nadal.
2008
Roger Federer used to be the leader of the pack in the world rankings from 2005 to 2008 and he met Nadal four successive times at Roland Garros. However, Nadal had the last laugh on all the occasions. In the 2008 final, Federer had a disastrous outing against the Spaniard when the former made 47 unforced errors and lost the match in straight sets and under 2 hours (6-1, 6-3, 6-0). And Nadal took home the French crown without dropping a set in the whole tournament.
2010
In the 2010 French Open, Federer was yet again at the top of the world tennis and Nadal happened to be the second seed. Everyone expected a clash between the two giants, but the Swiss lost to Robin Soderling in the quarters. Then Nadal clashed with Jurgen Melzer in the Semis and won without dropping a set. In the final, Nadal almost breezed through in straight sets (6-4, 6-2, 6-4) against the “giant slayer” Soderling to emerge as the French Open champion of 2010 in just over two hours.
2013
After conquering everyone on the clay courts of Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, Nadal entered the 2013 French Open as an overwhelming favourite. The Spaniard was ranked third in the world then and happened to be a three-time defending champion as well. In the Semis of 2013, Nadal faced off with Djokovic and prevailed over the Serb in a marathon 5-set game. In the final, he was pitted against one of his countrymen David Ferrer, who had not given away a set in the tournament till then. But everything went haywire for Ferrer in the last game as he dropped three sets and lost the match to Nadal in 2 hours and 16 minutes, it was Rafa’s eighth Rolland Garros.
2017
Coming into the French Open in 2017 the Spaniard happened to be the fourth seed and was up against Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) in the summit clash, the Swiss defeated the then numero uno Andy Murray in the Semi-Final to enter his second Rolland Garros final in three years. After crushing Thiem in straight sets in the Semis, Nadal booked the French Open final berth against Wawrinka. In a match lasting just two hours and 5 minutes, Nadal humbled the Swiss (6-2, 6-3, 6-1) to pocket another French honour. Most importantly, the Spaniard did not drop a single set in the entire competition.
