Rafael Nadal Can Tie Roger Federer With 20th Grand Slam Title At French Open

Rafael Nadal stands at the doorstep of tennis history.

With seven wins at his favorite tournament on Earth across the next two weeks, he would win his 13th French Open title and 20th Grand Slam crown, tying his long-time rival Roger Federer atop the all-time men’s list. Nadal is 93-2 all-time at the French, losing only to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009 and to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 final. He has won 21 straight matches at Roland Garros, capturing the last three titles.

But equaling and surpassing Federer is “not an obsession at all,” Nadal said.

“I know that you put a lot of attention on all of this,” he said last week at the Italian Open, where he lost in the quarterfinals to Diego Schwartzman.

“Of course I would love to finish my career with 25, but (that’s) something that probably will not happen. I’m going to keep fighting to produce chances, and then when I finish my career, let’s see, no?” he said. “I just want to keep enjoying tennis. And that’s it. If I am playing well, I know I normally have my chances. If not, going to be impossible. That’s it.”

Of his 12 Roland Garros titles, Nadal has never won without capturing at least one clay court warm-up tournament first. Due to the pandemic, he only played in Rome, which was won by Novak Djokovic, the owner of 17 major titles.

Now entering the French Open, Nadal faces other hurdles. He isn’t happy that Roland Garros has switched to Wilson balls after using Babolat for many years.

“You have to take care because with these conditions you can’t practise that much because the ball is super heavy,” the second-seeded Spaniard told reporters on Friday.

“Different brand than last year, a new ball. The ball is much slower than the previous years. If we add these conditions of cold and humidity, then it is super heavy.”

Nadal, 34, prefers warmer weather and faster conditions but with the tournament pushed from May/June to September/October by the pandemic, he will facing a different situation.

“I practiced with the balls in Mallorca,” Nadal said. “In Mallorca with warm conditions, the ball was very slow, I think (it’s) not a good ball to play on clay, honestly. That is my personal opinion.

“Even with these conditions it makes things tougher. But I knew before arriving here. So no problem at all. Just accept the challenge.

“(But) I really believe that the organization need to take a look at that for the next couple of years, for the health of the players too, because the ball is super heavy. (It) becomes dangerous for the elbow and for the shoulders, I think.”

Two-time French Open champion Jim Courier called Nadal “surely the favorite” before the draw came out but said Djokovic and newly-minted U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem weren’t far behind.

Nadal could potentially have to beat both men — as well as U.S. Open runner-up Sascha Zverev — to win No. 13. He is drawn to face Zverev in the quarters, Thiem in the semis and Djokovic in the final.

Is tough, no?

Thiem was the runner-up to Nadal in the 2018 and ‘19 Roland Garros finals, and then finally broke through to win his maiden Grand Slam title last week in New York, beating Zverev in the U.S. Open final.

Still, Thiem says winning a best-of-five set match against Nadal at Roland Garros is the toughest thing in tennis.

“You go into the match knowing that even your best tennis, even if you play it over three, four hours, might not be enough,” Thiem said. “I mean, if you do it, you maybe have a little chance, but you have to go to your limit on every single rally, every single point.”

“That makes it not easy to go into the match,” Thiem said. “And that’s the mental part, I guess.”

Djokovic, who was defaulted at the U.S. Open for unintentionally hitting a line judge with a tennis ball, also concedes Nadal is the favorite to win No. 13 — and No. 20 to tie Federer. The 39-year-old Swiss will return in 2021 after missing the U.S. and French Opens after knee surgery.

“Roland Garros is the last Slam, the last opportunity of this season,” Djokovic said. “So we all know who the main favorite is there: Obviously, it’s Nadal. And everything that he has achieved there, losing maybe a couple matches in his entire career on that court … is probably the most impressive record that anybody has on any court.

“So, yeah, of course you would put him right there in front as a favorite to win it.”