Nadal revels in 'unprecedented' 10th French Open title

By Our Reporter 

RAFAEL Nadal has described his feat as 'unprecedented' after winning a record 10th French Open by beating Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka in the final.

Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports that the Spaniard, 31, won 6-2 6-3 6-1 to secure 'La Decima' at Roland Garros, and his 15th major title.

Nadal - who won without dropping a set in the tournament for the third time - said he could not have imagined such success when he first won 12 years ago.

He said: "In 2005, I thought in 2017 I'd be fishing on my boat in Mallorca."

Nadal added: "I didn't really think I'd have such a long career and win so many tournaments."

Nadal swept through the final in two hours and five minutes to extend his all-time lead at Roland Garros, with 10 titles to Bjorn Borg's six in the open era.

He said: "This tournament has been very special to me, and it's true that it is unprecedented.

"Trust me, I'm very happy that I'm the one who did it.

"If I can do it, someone else can do it. But you need the right circumstances, the right ingredients to win 10 French Open titles.

"I don't know if I will ever get to meet the player who will do better than I did."

Much has changed since his first victory at Roland Garros in 2005, the year of his first appearance in the tournament.

In 2005, Nadal was partial to sleeveless shirts and pirate pants.

In 2005, Court Philippe Chatrier had the no aerial camera traveling on a wire above it.

And in 2005, one could stroll up to the entrance of Roland Garros Stadium with a ticket and enter the gates without being frisked or wanded by security officials.

The world is very different, but the men’s game has remained surprisingly resistant to change. Nadal’s careerlong rival, Roger Federer, beat him to win the Australian Open at age 35 in January.

Now Nadal has won another French Open, closing the gap with Federer in the standings for career Grand Slam singles titles.

Federer remains on top with 18. With Sunday’s win, his 15th, Nadal broke a tie with Pete Sampras for second place.

Two-thirds of Nadal’s major titles have come at Roland Garros, where he has an astounding 79-2 record. His only defeats came in the fourth round in 2009 against Robin Soderling and the quarterfinals in 2015 against Djokovic. He has never lost a French Open final, and his 10 victories in Paris make him the first player to win 10 Grand Slam singles titles at the same tournament in the Open era.