Today’s big winner: Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal begins the European clay court season on Wednesday. Over the next eight weeks he’ll play in five tournaments and you can pretty much set your $690,000 watch to the results: Rafa will advance to the finals of each and win at least three, but probably four, including the biggest prize of the season, the French Open. He’ll carve up opponents with his topspin forehand and two-handed backhand, slide to shots that look impossible to reach and generally dominate the surface like no other athlete on the planet.
Nothing is guaranteed, of course. Rafa lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2009, was almost knocked off by John Isner in the first round three years ago and came within a touched net of possibly losing to Novak Djokovic in last year’s semifinals. But we mostly know how this clay court story will end. Rafa will be king, again.
Here’s seven reasons he’s better on clay than any other athlete is on anything.
1. Rafa has won more clay court tournaments than the rest of the top 10 combined.
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
Nadal has 43 clay court wins in his career. The clay tournament wins for the rest of the current top 10:
2. Novak Djokovic: 8
3. Stan Wawrinka: 3
4. Roger Federer: 10
5. Tomas Berdych: 2
6. David Ferrer: 11
7. Juan Martin Del Potro: 4
8. Andy Murray: 0
9. Richard Gasquet: 2
10. Milos Raonic: 0
Total — 40
2. His lifetime record at the French Open is a mind-boggling 59-1.
(AP)
Nadal has won the year’s second Grand Slam a record eight times, including four straight. His only loss at Roland Garros was in 2009 when he was stunned in a fourth-round match against Soderling.
3. At 27, Nadal is three clay court titles away from setting the all-time record.
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
With at least three clay-court tournament wins this season (he’s done that in each of the past nine years), Nadal will have the most clay court titles for any player in history and he’s only 27 years old. Guillermo Vilas has held the record for more than 30 years with 45 clay tourney victories.
4. His career clay-court record is 298-21.
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
Or you can take your pick on which jaw-dropping clay stat is your favorite. Nadal is:
• …a staggering 118-5 since 2010, a winning percentage of nearly .960.
• … 272 out of his last 283.
• … 88-3 lifetime in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
His career winning percentage on clay is .934. Only two other men in history (Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl) are over .800. Roger Federer’s .871 winning percentage on grass is the highest on any other surface and it’s still more than .060 points behind Nadal’s mark on clay.
5. Rafael Nadal has won four clay court tournaments at least six times each.
In the history of tennis, such a feat on any surface has been accomplished 10 other times. Only Roger Federer, who’s done it three times (Wimbledon, Dubai, ATP World Tour Finals), has accomplished the feat more than once.
6. Since 2005, his worst yearly winning percentage on clay is 92%.
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
These won/loss records make UConn’s women’s basketball look pedestrian.
2005: 50-2
2006: 26-0
2007: 31-1
2008: 24-1
2009: 23-2
2010: 22-0
2011: 29-2
2012: 23-1
2013: 39-2
2014: 5-0
7. Nadal is getting 10/11 odds to win in Monte Carlo
(USA TODAY Sports Images)
He’s at even odds to win the French Open. These odds would be unheard of for tennis tournaments that involve five or more victories to hoist a trophy, but they’ve been fairly standard in the recent era of Nadal’s clay-court dominance.
Today’s other big winners:
“We will never cower”: Scenes from the gripping one-year tribute ceremony to the Boston Marathon bombing victims.
Chicago White Sox: The team wore “Boston Strong” T-shirts prior to Tuesday’s game versus the Red Sox in support of their opponent’s home city.
Shaquille O’Neal: The NBA on TNT host goes Belushi in Animal House on Brent Barry’s guitar before breaking into “Jessie’s Girl.”
Andrew McCutchen: The reigning NL MVP honored Jackie Robinson with a special pair of shoes.
Read the Xtreme Win of the Day every weekday morning.
