Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning against Austria’s Dominic Thiem their semifinal tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on June 9, 2017 in Paris © AFP/File / GABRIEL BOUYS
PARIS, France, Jun 11 – Rafael Nadal insists winning a record 10th French Open title on Sunday, and his 15th career Grand Slam crown, will not be his greatest achievement.
His proudest moment, he believes, came at his lowest ebb at the end of 2012 and start of 2013 when it seemed certain that his career-long battle against knee and wrist injuries would finally be lost.
But, from a seemingly fruitless position, he then engineered one of the sport’s most remarkable seasons.
“It’s true that 10 is a beautiful number, but actually my favourite is nine,” said Nadal, the nine-time champion at Roland Garros who faces 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka in the final.
“For sure if it becomes 10 it will be my favourite.
“But the thing that I am more proud of in my career probably is 2013. It was amazing.”
Nadal missed seven months of action between 2012 and 2013 due to a left knee injury and then a stomach virus.
But when he returned, he swept to the French and US Open titles and reclaimed the world number one spot.
“I had too many problems on my knee, so I was not able to practise at all. And I finished the year being World No. 1, winning here (in Paris), winning the US Open. So that’s the thing that I am more proud,” said Nadal.
The 31-year-old Spaniard has coasted into a 10th French Open final without dropping a set.
While Wawrinka needed the best part of five hours to defeat world number one Andy Murray, Nadal brushed aside Dominic Thiem, the conqueror of Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
His career record at Roland Garros reads 78 wins and just two losses.
On Sunday, he will be playing in his 22nd Grand Slam final.
On his way to the title match, he has shipped just 29 games, six fewer than when he made the 2012 final and just two more than the record of 27 conceded by Bjorn Borg in his 1978 trophy season.
– Revenge not in Nadal ‘vocab’ –
However, despite boasting a 15-3 head-to-head superiority over 32-year-old Wawrinka, the oldest man in the Paris final in 44 years, Nadal is wary of complacency.
“Nine here is probably difficult. If I did it, probably somebody else gonna do it, because I don’t consider myself very special,” he said.
The final will also be emotional for Toni Nadal, the uncle and coach of the Spanish star.
He will step down after being at his nephew’s side since boyhood.
“It’s not been special but it will be next year when I am watching it on my TV at home,” Toni, 56, told AS.
“At the moment I am not thinking about the fact it will be the last time that I go to the centre court in Paris.
“I am only going to see my nephew and to see if he does well. When I watch him on TV I will be just as happy.”
Wawrinka has only beaten Nadal once on clay in six meetings.
But there is no doubt that he is a big match player.
The Swiss has won all three Grand Slam finals in which he has appeared — in 2014 he beat Nadal in Australia and then Djokovic in the 2015 Paris final and again in last year’s US Open finale.
The win in Melbourne was his first after 12 straight losses against Nadal.
But Nadal said revenge for that defeat has never entered his thinking.
“Revenge is not part of my vocab. I don’t think it would be the right thing to do to see it as a revenge,” said Nadal who withdrew before last year’s third round at the French Open with a wrist injury.
Wawrinka will be the third oldest winner of the men’s title if he succeeds on Sunday.
“To play Rafa on clay in the French Open in a final is probably the biggest challenge you can have in tennis,” he said.
“He’s the best player ever on clay. He’s going for his 10th Roland Garros, so it’s something really impressive, something tough.
“I will have to play my best tennis. But again, I did in the past.”
