OT - Rafael Nadal Wins 12th French Open
Rafael Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem in 4 sets 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 for his 12th French Open title.
Thiem played tough for the first two sets and seems like he is on the verge of breaking through in a Grand Slam. Nadal really took over and started to dominate in the 3rd set when perhaps Thiem fatigued slightly after playing a tough 5-setter against Djokovic on Friday and Saturday.
Nadal has now won 18 Grand Slams and is an incredible 93-2 at the French over his career.
Question - is there any other team or athlete in any sport that has been as dominant in one particular venue as Nadal is at Roland Garros?
Jordan is 6-0 in the NBA finals. Does that count?
That was remarkable by MJ, but 12 > 6
Bill Russell 11-1 is the more apt choice.
Or UCLA during the Wooden era.
wooden cheated via recruiting and paying players.
And hard to compare a team sport vs single's tennis.
Comparable to Nadal on clay? Well, it's an individual sport so how about Tiger at the Masters.
Close would be Sampras, Navratilova and Fed on Grass. It's amazing to win so much on clay because it truly is a young man's surface because you have to battle. Nadal won RG so young but then it looked like the end was near with the two year gap but now just adds another 3 titles.
Now this is truly a record that will never be touched. Ever.
Fed has a 89% win percentage at Wimbly. 87% in the USO and AUO. 80% in the FO only b/c of Nadal.
I doubt anyone is touching this consistency going on 20 years.
Not only is the 12 titles unprecedented in major sports in a single venue, one must factor in the elite competition he has done it against. Based off of grand slam events won Federer is the greatest tennis player of all-time, and Djokovic is top 5 all time. And these juggernaut players had to win these championships against each other and against an expanding talent level internationally. Russell was awesome, but the nba had many fewer team, and the competition level was much lower at that time.
Also, 93-2 is an incomparable win/loss record of which Russell and others are not even within the same stratosphere.
Most assuredly no - he is the most individually dominant athlete at a single venue in a major sport in recorded history. Hats off to a living legend!
It's getting absurd at this point that none of the younger generations can dethrone the Big 3.
They got all the talent in the world but always come up short on the mental front.
What Roger is doing at 37 is just ridiculous. I'm curious to see if Nadal or Djoker can keep this up in 5 years when they're his age. Something tells me no considering their grindy styles.
What's more ridiculous at this point is the state of US Men's Tennis. I think the further guy we had in the French was Taylor Fritz maybe? 2nd round?
Well, Thiem did beat Djokovic and reached the French final for the second straight year. He might be the second best clay player in the world now. Nadal is just at another level on this surface.
The God of Clay
I'm not sure if any other sport is comparable to tennis in this regard. I can't think of another sport which changes its entire playing surface this drastically depending on the stadium. Nadal is the greatest clay-court player who will ever live, so he doesn't lose at his sport's biggest clay-court tournament.
That and nobody focuses on the clay surface more than Spanish people.
The Russian wrestler that the American beat in the Olympics comes to mind--names escape me.
Rocky Marciano was undefeated as a heavyweight champion.
Buy yes Nadal's success in Paris has been on a truly stratospheric level.
Aleksandr Karelin is a testament to the lengths the Russians are willing to go in state sponsored doping. MONSTER
Usain Bolt winning Gold in the 100m and 200m in 3 straight Olympics is probably even a greater achievement.
Arguably yes - But still not the answer to your question given the venue specificity. Also, running really fast is a single athletic trait. Tennis requires speed, agility, flexibility, coordination, intellect, strategy, and prolonged focus.
Something tells me if it was as simple as “run really fast,” more than one person in the history of track and field would have accomplished it.
Me on ice.
No. Rafa is an absolute monster on clay.
avi checks out.
You have my favorite header
Anyone else think he looked like a douche running around with his shirt off?
Rocky Marciano was 16-0 in fights at Madison Square Garden (and undefeated in his heavyweight career). That’s prob the closest invidual-to-venue comparison I can come up with! Pretty amazing feat by Nadal.
It is very impressive. He has separate 4, 5 and now 3 year streaks. Incredible
No. In a sport, in a particular situation, there is nothing to match what Nadal has done at the French. I don't like him (for no discernable reason), but on clay, with a racquet in his hand, that man is usually* unbeatable.