ATP Finals winner and one of the world’s leading players Daniil Medvedev saved the season with a solid performance in Paris and London. The Russian scored ten wins in a row (seven against top 10 rivals), scooped 2500 points and overtook Roger Federer on the ATP list.
For the first time in his career, he made it into the top four. Before Medvedev found his best tennis in the closing stages of the reduced season, he had experienced another failure by Roland Garros and lost in four sets against Marton Fucsovics, number 63 in the world.
Daniil, for example, was left empty-handed in the French capital and failed to win on his fourth trip to Paris. Between 2017 and 2019, the Russian would lose to French rivals in the opening round and waste a two-set advantage against Pierre-Hugues Herbert for a massive blow.
World number 2 Rafael Nadal has no such problems. He dominates at Roland Garros like no other before him at a major and secures 100 wins from 102 Paris encounters! A recent video shows Rafa as an older man after his triumph at Roland Garros in 2050.
Medvedev comments on how much he would like to win at least one game in Paris by then. Rafa has won 13 titles out of 16 arrivals in Paris, secured first crown on debut in 2005 at 19, and has since been the player to be beaten on the sand major.
This year’s Roland Garros was the biggest challenge for the Spaniard. He’s been traveling to Paris with three games in his legs since the end of February and faced conditions never seen in the past at his beloved tournament.
Nadal won the 13th Roland Garros title and Medvedev is aiming for the first victory
Leaving the cold weather, new Wilson balls and a roof over Philippe-Chatrier-Platz behind, Rafa defeated all seven rivals in straight sets to be 20.
Major title and catch up with Roger Federer at the head of the GOAT race. In the first four games, Rafa defeated Egor Gerasimov, Mackenzie McDonald, Stefano Travaglia and Sebastian Korda without breaking a sweat, got broken once and dropped 23 games to sail to the quarterfinals.
Nadal had to work harder against the young Italian Jannik Sinner, who broke Rafa twice and served 6: 5 for the opening set. The 12-time Roland Garros champion fell back at the last moment and won the tie-break, prevailed in second and shifted into higher gear in third to advance to the semi-finals without spending more time on the court.
In contrast to the quarter-finals in Rome, Diego Schwartzman had no chance against Rafa in Paris. He stayed competitive in the third set but lost 7-0 in the tie-break so the Spaniard could advance to the next round.
The biggest obstacle was between Rafael Nadal and the title, and Novak Djokovic, world number 1, waited on the other side of the net in the title fight. Like those before him, Novak had nothing to offer against the king of sand, who scored a 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 triumph for the fourth major crown in two hours and 41 minutes without winning a set to lose!
Rafa lost his only time, keeping Novak’s return in the dressing room and destroying him up to four blows in the shortest rallies to control the scoreboard. Nadal scored a 6-0 in the first set, played almost flawless tennis and made three breaks against the world’s leading player, only to seal it after 45 minutes with an ace at 5-0.
Rafa had no chance of a break in the second set and played Novak on return for another solid game of tennis and a 6-0, 6-2 advantage. Djokovic tried to avoid a catastrophe and took the break back in the sixth game of the third set to bring the result to 3-3 and stay in the competition.
Nadal won his service game comfortably in games eight, ten and twelve, made a break of 5: 5 after a double fault by Novak and went over the top with a hold on his service game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ce_z9rW_EU
–
