WATCHING NADAL AT THE FRENCH OPEN THEATER WAS AN UNCONQUERABLE THRILL
We can find grass at Lambeau Field or dirt handfuls at Yankee Stadium, but in the overall realm of sport, no athlete ever dominated a surface as Rafael Nadal did in winning 14 titles at Roland Garros
Red clay can be scooped at Roland Garros and placed into a jar until it dries. This is what a sportswriter did after watching Rafael Nadal at the French Open, without telling police nationale that iron oxide brings strength and harmony. At Lambeau Field in Green Bay, multitudes of football players have run the grounds. At Yankee Stadium in New York, who hasn’t stepped into a batter’s box?
Those are the theaters of team sports. Nadal was a combative individualist who struck a tennis ball with such verve, you knew his romance with Court Philippe-Chatrier would become the greatest centerpiece of an athlete and a stadium. He won 14 of his Grand Slam titles in Paris. His prevailed in 96.5 percent of his matches. Near the Jardin des Mousquetaires, where a large screen showed his events, his statue was erected.
It was made entirely of steel, 3.3 yards tall, and when he stood next to the swinging machine, Nadal had an innocent smile that belied the passion that made him close to unconquerable on the fine-grained surface. Once, I had to step around Michael Jordan’s jersey in the Chicago Bulls locker room, but without a carpenter, no one took home a piece of the basketball court in the United Center. What could be better than red clay?
The Spanish fans chanted “Raaa-faaa!” and “Espana!” as Nadal retired from his sport Tuesday in his native land. It’s hard to fathom he overcame so many injuries, including hip and abdominal issues in his final two seasons. In 2022, we had seats for his fourth-round match against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime. Nadal almost lost but advanced in the fifth set, going on to beat Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud for his final French championship and his 22nd Grand Slam title. That was his final grand moment as the greatest of clay players and one of the epic titans.
“The truth is that nobody ever wants to arrive at this moment. I’m not tired of playing tennis, but it’s my body that doesn’t want to play anymore,” Nadal said in Malaga after a Davis Cup loss to the Netherlands. “So I have to accept the situation. Honestly, I feel super privileged for having been able to make a career out of my hobby, and for having played for much longer than I could ever have imagined.”
The percentage is astounding: 96.5. He did so against men who also will be recalled among the best, Djokovic and Roger Federer, and they comprised a Big Three that never will be approached. Tennis is lucky to have Carlos Alcaraz, another Spaniard who could rule for two decades, and Jannik Sinner, if he stays off the steroids. But if Nadal wasn’t facing the other two, how many more Grand Slam tournaments would he have won? And vice versa? He is 38. He might have looked spent at 30 and 35 but he always managed to win again. Only Djokovic, with two dozen masterpieces, passed him on the list of all-time champions. Novak is the GOAT, as they say, on hardcourts and grass.
Never on clay.
“The titles and numbers are there so people probably know that, but the way I would like to be remembered is being a good person from a small village in Mallorca where I had the luck to have my uncle as a tennis coach,” Nadal said. “I had a great family who supported me in every moment. I was a kid who followed their dreams, worked as hard as possible to be where I am today. At the end of the day, a lot of people try their best every single day, but I'm very lucky to have the life I have to live because of tennis.”
In America, we remember John McEnroe for his bluster, Pete Sampras for his serve and nerve, and Andre Agassi for his entertainment. Our last Grand Slam champion was Andy Roddick in 2003. Arthur Ashe changed the world. Stan Smith makes cool shoes. But like the rest of the planet, we watched Nadal and Djokovic and Federer.
“As you get ready to graduate from tennis, I’ve got a few things to share before I maybe get emotional,” wrote Federer, who retired in 2022. "Let’s start with the obvious: you beat me — a lot. More than I managed to beat you. You challenged me in ways no one else could. On clay, it felt like I was stepping into your backyard, and you made me work harder than I ever thought I could just to hold my ground. You made me reimagine my game — even going so far to change the size of my racquet head, hoping for any edge.”
Now, Alcaraz must carry the game. He has monstrous talent and already has won four Slams at 21. Does he have longevity? “I think that he was one of the best ambassadors for tennis,” he said of Nadal. “I mean, his legacy is going to be eternal. You know, he has been great for tennis, for this sport in general. Yeah, it is difficult, at least for me. I don't want to think that I should continue, you know, the legacy that he has left. It is difficult, almost impossible. I will try to do my best, but right now, it's time to say, you know, just great things about Rafa, what he has done during his career. He was one of the players that put tennis, you know, in the top of sport on top of the world.”
He’ll be around, like Federer, with a clothing line, tennis academies and a chance he’ll take over the presidency of the Real Madrid soccer powerhouse. His body demanded a permanent seat in the competitive game. “Everything in this life has a beginning and an end,” he said. “I think it is the appropriate time to end a career.”
Only Djokovic remains, maybe for a year or two. Rafael Nadal has turned him into a scientist. “His power and tenacity,” he said, “is something that will be studied.”
Like a handful of red clay.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.