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Rafael Nadal, the center of the earth

2020-10-09T17:36:26.180Z


The Spaniard will live, Sunday, a 13th final in Paris. The years go by but nothing changes.


He entered on a court cut in half.

Between shadow and light.

Between the weight of questions and the comfort of the prize list.

Going from the freshness of the night (less than 10 degrees in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday against the Italian Jannik Sinner) to the sweetness and honey colors of a day apart in a tournament having spent its time between the drops and finally managing to walk a spring atmosphere.

In this tournament born in the gray by accident, as sings Laurent Voulzy, Rafael Nadal entered on tiptoe.

With circumflex eyebrows more accentuated than usual and a scowl illustrating the deep preoccupation of a man with landmarks, habits, superstitions.

Due to a disrupted schedule, shortened preparation and the change of season, part of his technical arsenal was constrained, like a less punishing lift on land and with heavier balls.

Before his first round, the Spaniard indicated that he knew the conditions "probably the most difficult known at Roland Garros" but assured, true to his legend: "I am here to fight, to play with the highest intensity possible, to train. with the right attitude and give me chances.

"To experience the" most important "event of his career.

After his 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) victory against Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, he will point once again to the meeting point for the final on Sunday (3 p.m.).

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At Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal faces his story, the one started in 2005 with smoking nostrils, shoes mounted on springs, protruding biceps and corsair shorts to give a touch of old to everything that the secular tournament had seen pass.

Before managing to impose, with matches always at very high intensity, a domination and a consistency rare in high level sport, all disciplines combined.

A performance sculpted with patience on this ruthless clay which celebrates the strongest player, not walking the slightest fault.

Its strength lies in its ability to fend off the wear and tear that rusts the cogs, erodes motivation when training becomes a burden.

Year after year, he proves his desire and his ability to reinvent himself.

He imprints the same energy on each ball, drawing ever more rigorously from a brazen determination.

Nadal hellish rhyme

Spared in a cleared half of the table (no seed crossed before the semi-finals, no set lost in six games), Rafael Nadal was able to adapt to the playing conditions offered, withstand the challenge of the night (end of the game) at 1:26 am in his quarter-final against Jannik Sinner), in the wind, in the fall temperatures, in the game under the roof, at the level of 1,000 spectators.

At Roland Garros, Nadal rhymes with infernal.

His hold and control are total.

His forehand lasso, his flipper backhands, his lightning returns, his ability to never show anything whatever the scenario are well known but represent an often insurmountable physical, technical or mental obstacle.

Insatiable, the Spaniard has pocketed a 99th victory (for only two defeats) since 2005 at Roland Garros.

Vertiginous.

In the final, he will aim for a thirteenth crown at Roland Garros (after 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019).

The legendary Björn Borg, long considered the “King of Clay” (king of clay) had stopped at six.

The years go by, the stadium changes but Rafael Nadal remains at the center of the earth.

Eager to extend his crazy love affair with Roland-Garros, the tournament that revealed him and to which he clings with heart.

Whatever the conditions and the season ...

Read also

  • Roland-Garros 2020: Calendar / Results

Source: lefigaro

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