PARIS — Rafael Nadal reclaimed his
crown as the King of Clay on Sunday, and he did it with dogged defense.
Chasing down shots all over the court,
the relentless Spaniard won his fifth French Open title and avenged his
lone Roland Garros defeat, beating Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Nadal improved to 38-1 at Roland
Garros, with the only loss to Soderling in the fourth round a year ago.
“I played my best match against you,”
an emotional Nadal told Soderling during the trophy ceremony. “If not,
it’s going to be impossible to beat you.”
Seeded No. 2, Nadal won seven
consecutive games midway through the match and held every serve, saving
all eight break points he faced. He became the second man to win the
French Open at least five times, and next year he’ll have a chance to
match Bjorn Borg‘s record of six titles.
“It’s really impressive,” Soderling
told Nadal. “If you continue like this, you will sure have the chance to
win many more.”
With the victory, Nadal will also
reclaim the No. 1 ranking Monday, supplanting Roger Federer.
Soderling, who has yet to win a major
title, finished as the runner-up for the second year in a row. In 2009
he lost in the final to Federer.
“I love this tournament,” he said. “I
will come back next year, and I hope I’ll be third time lucky then.”
When Soderling’s final shot landed in
the net, Nadal slid onto his back, threw up his fists and rose, shaking
from his hair the clay he loves. Soon he was sitting and sobbing into
his towel.
“It’s the most emotional day in my
career,” Nadal told the crowd in French during the trophy ceremony.
His bad memories of 2009 included not
only the loss to Soderling, but the separation of his parents and knee
tendinitis that contributed to a slump.
The weather was mild and mostly
cloudy — a nice day to go running, and Nadal did plenty of it. Playing
farther behind the baseline than in their match last year, he skidded
across the clay and lunged to dig shots out of the corners, repeatedly
extending points until Soderling finally misfired.
The big-swinging Soderling tried to
win points quickly and sometimes did, but most of the long rallies went
Nadal’s way. Before the first set ended, the Swede was panting between
points.
To compound Soderling’s woes, he had
an off day with his serve, his biggest weapon. He totaled only seven
aces, the same number as Nadal. For the other six rounds, Soderling had
75 aces, Nadal 12.
Nadal’s march to his seventh Grand
Slam title was deliberate only between points. Advised by the chair
umpire he was taking too much time with his methodical ritual before
serving, Nadal responded, “Thank you,” and slightly picked up the pace.
Nadal’s persistence paid off big
early in the second set. Facing a break point, he retrieved shots from
both corners and punched back a Soderling slam, then charged forward and
hit a deft drop volley for a winner. The stadium shook with a roar, and
Nadal threw an uppercut accompanied by a leg kick.
Another eye-popping sequence came
three games later. Nadal slid into the corner beyond the doubles service
line to hit a forehand winner that left Soderling shaking his head. On
the next point, Nadal raced to the other side and yanked a lunging
backhand crosscourt for another winner.
Those points helped Nadal break at
love for a 3-2 lead, during the run that allowed him to take firm
control. He managed three consecutive service breaks, and by the time
Soderling finally held to stop the skid, he trailed 2-1 in the final
set.
With Nadal covering so much ground,
Soderling sometimes rushed shots or aimed too close to the line. He
finished with 45 unforced errors to 16 for Nadal.
Even the points Nadal lost took a
toll on his opponent, who was coming off a grueling five-set win over
Tomas Berdych in the semifinals. The Swede, who was seeded fifth and
upset Federer in the quarterfinals, again came up short in his 26th
Grand Slam tournament.
The first service break came in the
fifth game when Nadal cracked a thunderous backhand for a winner, and he
served out the set. That essentially decided the match: He’s now 95-1
at Grand Slam tournaments when he wins the opening set.
Nadal improved to 22-0 this year on
clay and now switches to grass, where he’ll seek a second Wimbledon
title after missing last year’s tournament because of his knee trouble.
For the second time in three years,
Nadal won all 21 sets en route to the Roland Garros championship. Only
two other men in the Open era have won the title without losing a set,
Borg and Ilie Nastase.