Rafael Nadal won the 2019 French Open title. In the final of the clay court grand slam on Sunday (9/6/2019), Rafael Nadal won 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 over Dominic Thiem. This is Nadal’s 12th title at Roland Garros or the third in a row. As a result, the 33-year-old Spaniard made history as the first person to win 12 titles in the same grand slam.
Nadal first won the French Open title in 2005. After that, the left-hander continued to run in 2006, 2007, 2008, then returned to the championship in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018.
Thus, overall the world number two player has won 18 grand slam trophies. That means, Nadal is only two titles adrift of his Swiss rival Roger Federer, who is still at the top of the list of most grand slam trophy winners for the men’s singles sector. Federer’s trip to the 2019 French Open stalled in the semifinals. The step of the new one-time player at Roland Garros was blocked by Nadal in the semifinals.
Nonetheless, Nadal outperformed world number one, Novak Djokovic, who has won 15 titles in the grand slam tournament.
As for Thiem, this is the second successive failure in the French Open final. Last year, the 25-year-old Austrian player climbed the top of the party but was defeated by Nadal in a three-set battle.
In this final match, Thiem gave a tight match in the first two sets. Thiem was ahead 3-2 after breaking Nadal’s service. But Nadal was able to push his opponent and grab four games in a row for a 6-3 lead in 53 minutes. The second set, Thiem improved the match, broke Nadal’s service and eventually won 7-5. However, Thiem’s end came to an end, the third and fourth full set by Nadal. He played without a mistake and grabbed the third and fourth set of 6-1, 6-1.
“Dominic dropped his level a little bit and Rafa was able to play confident again, and that was key,” Carlos Moya, the former French Open champion who took over as coach from Nadal’s uncle, Toni Nadal, last year, told a small group of reporters after the match.
Admittedly, the dominance of Nadal on clay is very difficult to stem. Naturally, the former world number one player gets the nickname King of Clay aka King of Clay Field. Evidently, he has won 59 trophies on clay and has made a record 81 consecutive wins on this type of field.
-RDS-
