The master of clay conquered Roland Garros yet again on Sunday afternoon.
Rafael Nadal, now the winner of a record-setting 12 French Opens, defeated Dominic Thiem to claim yet another Grand Slam win.
In the process, the Spanish tennis star extended his previous record of 11 French Open wins. No other player in the history of the prestigious tournament has won more than 8.
Nadal didn’t have it easy against the 25-year-old Austrian on Sunday. Things even looked a bit questionable for the clay court expert after Thiem roared back after a first set loss to beat Nadal in the second set.
However, after this small blip, the Mallorca native stormed back to win the next two sets and the championship. He did it once again, winning the 18th Grand Slam tournament of his career.
His mastery of the French Open has no other parallel in men’s tennis history. No other player has matched his 12 wins at Ronald Garros in any major tournament.
The win was important for Nadal, who will continue to be ranked as the second-best player in the world behind Novak Djokovic.
The result wasn’t surprising, but it’s worthy of our awe and admiration all the same.
