A fan holds a banner during the French Open men’s final match between Spaniards Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday.
MADRID: Rafael Nadal smiled back from the front pages of Spanish newspapers yesterday, after he lifted his record eighth French Open title with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over compatriot David Ferrer.
The 27-year-old Spaniard’s triumph made him the first man to ever win the same Grand Slam title on eight different occasions.
“The emotion of a country,” said Madrid sports daily Marca, as Nadal also moved into joint-third in the all-time list of Grand Slam winners alongside Australian Roy Emerson on 12.
“Nadal’s figures on the red dust in general and particularly at Roland Garros are scary,” the paper assessed.
“Between the four walls of the French tournament his numbers have reached 59 matches won, more than anyone, and just one defeat to Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals in 2009.”
The other Madrid sports daily AS led with “Nadal breaks the limits”.
One columnist said “this tournament, this city, form part of the axis of his monumental career, which has many more things besides, but he is really special thanks to Paris and its emblematic tournament”.
Nadal even led the news in the mainstream press, with El Pais hailing his remarkable comeback from a seven-month injury lay-off. Since returning in February, Nadal has reached nine consecutive finals and gone on to win a remarkable seven titles.
“Above the medals that adorn his curriculum, there is the heroic odyssey of a champion like no other, capable of triumphing in June despite being suffering an injury in his left knee in January,” the newspaper considered.
The Catalan press also dedicated its front pages to the Majorcan’s triumph, with El Mundo Deportivo lauding him “Rafa VIII” on their front page, whilst Sport hailed him simply “the greatest”. Rafael Nadal’s stirring comeback from a career-threatening knee injury was crowned at the French Open on Sunday when he won the Roland Garros title for a record eighth time to move into joint third place in the all-time list of Grand Slam winners on 12.
But the 27-year-old Spaniard admitted that the injury woes that sidelined him for seven months last year are far from being a thing of the past. On the contrary, they are ever-present on his mind.
Nadal had pointedly refused to answer questions about the state of his knees during the French Open fortnight, but he opened up after his impressive 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over David Ferrer.
“My knee, not knees. I am lucky that it is not both. It’s only one,” Nadal said with a wry smile when questioned again on his troublesome joints.
“But the knee, some weeks I didn’t feel well, but the last couple of weeks I start to feel my knee better.
“So that’s positive. And the knee is resisting tough matches like I had in Rome against (Ernest) Gulbis, David Ferrer - two days straight.
“The knee resisted a very tough battle against (Novak Djokovic) the other day (in the semi-final). Yesterday I didn’t have a terrible feeling, so that’s very positive news.
“Today I was able to compete at 100 percent another time, so that’s fantastic. It’s true that in Barcelona my feeling was very negative about my knee. So I am still going week by week, day by day. I will take a look after here.”
After here means first of all pulling out of next week’s grasscourt tournament in Halle, Germany where he had been scheduled to begin his preparations for Wimbledon, which starts on June 24.
Agencies
