Rafael Nadal conquered French Open farce that annoyed McEnroe for best victory

Rafael Nadal set for 2024 farewell after pulling out of French Open

Rafael Nadal secured the greatest French Open triumph of his career last year despite the seeding process leaving Patrick McEnroe frustrated and the Spaniard with a mountain to climb in order to claim the top prize at Roland Garros. Nadal, who will miss this year’s edition of the tournament due to a long-term injury sustained at the Australian Open back in January, has earned more titles in Paris than any other player and is widely regarded as the ‘king of clay’ as a result of his unmatched prowess on the surface.

Nadal has won the French Open on no less than 14 occasions over the course of his career, but it could be argued that none were better than his impressive triumph at Roland Garros last year. The 36-year-old, who was struggling with a chronic foot problem at the time, managed to see off the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Novak Djokovic before masterminding a straight-sets victory over Casper Ruud in the final to get his hands on the iconic trophy once again.

The scale of his achievement was highlighted by the French Open seedings, which were strictly in line with the ATP world rankings and saw Nadal placed in the same half of the draw as some of the biggest names in tennis. The likes of Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev were also in the top half alongside Nadal, who was the world’s fifth-best player according to the rankings 12 months ago.

It meant that Nadal was forced to do battle with Djokovic in a quarter-final meeting for the ages, which left McEnroe questioning why he was not placed in the other side of the draw in order to increase the likelihood of such a match-up taking place in the final as opposed to the last eight.

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“Come on French Open, it’s time to go with the seeding system,” said McEnroe in an online video. “Enough already. We had Nadal and Djokovic last year in the semis. One of the greatest matches ever, in the semis. Tennis needs it in the final. Now we could have Djokovic-Nadal in the quarterfinals. Come on, let’s get it together, finally.”

Nadal was undeterred by his bad luck in terms of the draw, though, as he went on to defeat Djokovic in a four-set thriller that lasted for more than four hours and will be fondly remembered by tennis fans worldwide for years to come. He came flying out of the blocks to clinch the first set under the lights in Paris, with the Manacor native employing an aggressive and no-nonsense approach in spite of his niggling foot injury.

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He managed to break Djokovic twice as he rolled back the years to the approval of the partisan crowd in attendance, before breaking his rival again at the start of the second set to put himself in control. He was quickly pegged back by Djokovic, who did incredibly well to edge a highly-competitive and lengthy affair in order to draw level, but Nadal came out swinging in the third set and raced to another commanding triumph before wrapping up proceedings by claiming a fourth-set tiebreak.

Nadal was buoyed by his incredible victory over Djokovic and went on to finish the French Open as the eventual champion by making light work of Ruud in straight sets in the final six days later. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to win his 15th title at Roland Garros at the next time of asking in 2024, though, with Nadal firmly expected to call time on his professional career before the start of 2025.

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