By Charlie Eccleshare / The Athletic
Casper Ruud described what it is like facing Rafael Nadal on Philippe Chatrier Court, where Nadal has won 14 French Open titles.
“He makes you suffer,” Ruud said. “First, he takes your legs, then your mind.”
Since Nadal won his first French Open in 2005 at age 19, Chatrier has become his court. Ruud was Nadal’s opponent for the most recent of those triumphs, in 2022. When asked about facing Nadal there, his eyes widened and he let out a small laugh.
That was a typical reaction of the dozen or so players The Athletic interviewed to understand what it is like to play Nadal on clay, a surface on which he has a 90.9% winning record over more than two decades. He has won 479 matches on clay, losing 48.
At Roland Garros, that figure is 97.4%: played 115, won 112, lost three. Nadal’s return to the French Open, and his expected farewell to the tournament, will begin this morning against a difficult first-round opponent, fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, 27 (NBC, Peacock; see listings for exact time).
Most of the players interviewed, including the world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, described playing Nadal on clay as “the toughest test in tennis.” Others, like Ruud, said it was the toughest test in any sport. “He is the ultimate clay-court player,” said Gaël Monfils, a former world No. 6 who has been beaten by Nadal in all six of their meetings on the surface.
Some players do not even think it is real. “It’s a bit like playing against someone on a PlayStation because every ball comes back,” said Karen Khachanov, a two-time French Open quarterfinalist.
Ruud’s words call to mind Andy Roddick’s famous “first your legs, then your soul” description of Djokovic, so what exactly makes playing Nadal so terrifying?
From the size of the Chatrier Court and the feeling that it is impossible to get the ball past him to the heaviness of his ball to the mental torture he exerts, those who have faced him explain what it is like playing him on clay.
First up is Djokovic, who has inflicted two-thirds of Nadal’s defeats on Chatrier Court and who has played him there 10 times, more than anyone else.
“The court is bigger,” he said. “There is more space, which affects visually the play a lot and the feeling of the player on the court. He likes to stand quite far back to return. Sometimes when he’s really in the zone and in the groove, not making many errors, you feel like he’s impenetrable. He’s like a wall.”
Rudd, who was thumped in straight sets in that French Open final two years ago, said: “It’s like Novak said, winners don’t come easy against him on Chatrier.”
To reach that final, Nadal beat Zverev in the semifinal. In a very strange match with lots of breaks, Zverev had to retire with an ankle injury in the second set while trailing, 6-7, 6-6. He had failed to win the first set, despite holding four consecutive set points.
“He becomes different,” said Zverev, who has lost five of his six matches against Nadal on clay. “His ball all of a sudden becomes a few kilometers an hour faster. His footwork and foot speed become a lot faster.”
He added: “Somehow you feel like you’re winning, but then somehow you end up not. It’s just something you only feel against him on that specific court.”
Sebastian Korda, America’s world No. 28, won just four games when he faced Nadal on Chatrier four years ago, losing, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, in a fourth-round shellacking.
“He’s as comfortable as someone can be on a tennis court, and once someone gets comfortable on a court, it becomes extremely difficult to play them,” Korda said.
Nadal’s ball on clay is known to be so full of spin that players struggle to comprehend it.
“His ball? It’s heavy,” said Ruud, who was the French Open runner-up again last year. “And I think if you haven’t played tennis yourself it’s maybe hard to know what heavy means. I guess it’s the spin and rotation of his ball. The more RPMs he has on his ball, the quicker it will bounce up toward you. And when the ball bounces up at you, the more RPMs it has, the heavier it comes up at you compared to a ball that’s coming at you really flat.
“He has mastered that more than anyone else.”
Miomir Kecmanovic, who is ranked 55th and who lost to Nadal in straight sets in Madrid a couple of years ago, said: “His ball was different. Different in the way you know it’s Rafa behind the ball.”
Khachanov said the variety of Nadal’s shots when playing him on clay struck him. “It’s always different,” Khachanov said. “He finds different angles, different trajectories, he always pushes you back when he opens the court. He has so much variety and the ball speed.” He added: “It’s like chess tennis — with the pieces, the shots he has in his arsenal. He is always trying to make you have trouble.”
Roger Federer could be forgiven for still having nightmares about those French Open finals when Nadal would loop topspin forehands to force him to hit one-handed backhands from shoulder height again and again. The punishment was so severe that Federer eventually remodeled the entire shot.
Grigor Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist, has lost all six matches he has played Nadal on clay, winning just one set in the process.
Nadal made him miserable. “It was no fun. No fun at all,” Dimitrov said.
One of Nadal’s characteristics is that he never takes things for granted. No matter the opponent or the event, he will always show every match the utmost respect.
That was the impression that Zizou Bergs, the world No. 101, had when he was beaten by Nadal in Rome recently. “He was hitting such a high ball with lots of spin,” Bergs said. “Playing my weaknesses. You can tell his team did their homework on me, on what I don’t like.”
The feeling of being put under relentless pressure is draining. Eventually, it becomes overwhelming. “It’s difficult physically, tactically, to handle his speed, his angle, the way he puts you under pressure,” Monfils said.
Ruud was one of the players who grew up with Nadal as their childhood hero and then trained at the Spaniard’s academy. There was a feeling he was in awe of Nadal in their final two years ago, which ended, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.
“Of course, I wish I could make the match closer and all these things,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I can hopefully one day tell my grandkids that I played Rafa on Chatrier in the final. I’m probably going to enjoy this moment for a long time.”
As the French Open play begins, Nadal, 37, is battling injury and trying to compete at one last French Open. His biggest opponent since he won his 14th title two years ago has been his creaking body. He has not competed at Roland Garros since, nor at any Grand Slam event since January 2023.
Beating Nadal at Roland Garros has long been the toughest task in tennis, possibly any sport. Nadal’s physical issues have meant he is nowhere near as formidable as he once was.
Perhaps it is fitting that the only person who has got the better of Nadal on clay is, well, Nadal.
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