“Locked up in a mental hospital” Pat Cash talks of Rafael Nadal’s domination at the French Open
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Pat Cash and Rafael Nadal
20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal is certainly the ‘King of Clay’ having won 13 majors at the French Open out of his tally of 20. His career titles tally is at 88 of which 62 have come on Clay while his streak of 81 consecutive wins on the surface is the longest single-surface streak in the time of the Open Era.
These performances have certainly made him one of the greatest players of the sport and former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash is one such Nadal fan. Cash is credited for starting the ritual of the champion climbing to the player’s box to celebrate with their team at the All-England Club after winning the Wimbledon title, as he did the famous climb in 1987 after winning his only title at the Championships.
The Australian who is also a former World No. 4, pondered on what would have been the reaction to someone saying 20 years ago that the newbie on the tour who goes by the name of Rafael Nadal will go on to win 13 French Open titles of which the Spaniard twice won 4 titles in a row (2005-2008, 2017-2020) and once won 5 consecutive titles (2010-2014) at the Roland Garros.
“Think of a football team that is simply unbeatable in any stadium or someone who wins the Tour de France year after year. Nadal’s 13 titles at Roland Garros are incredible. If you had said that 20 years ago, you would have been locked up in a mental hospital,” said Cash as reported by welovetennis.fr.
Rafael Nadal has a 105-3 record at the French Open
Nadal made his debut at the Slam in 2005 and did not lose a single match till his 4th round defeat at the 2009 French Open against Robin Soderling who ended Nadal’s streak of 31 consecutive wins at the Roland Garros and became the first player ever to defeat the Spaniard at the Slam.
Nadal went on another streak of 39 wins at the Slam before Novak Djokovic stopped him from going for his 6th consecutive title as he was a 5-time defending champion at the 2015 French Open when Novak beat him. Nadal was forced to retire before his 3rd round match against compatriot Marcel Granollers in 2016.
Nadal again won 33 matches before Djokovic defeated him in the semi-finals of the 2021 French Open where he was a 4-time defending champion. Djokovic is the only player to defeat Nadal twice in French Open and from the mere 3 losses from the 108 matches Nadal has, 2 belong to Djokovic.
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Sarthak Shitole
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