Rafael Nadal introduced his retirement from tennis after the Davis Cup finals in November on Thursday after a profession which yielded 22 Grand Slam titles.
Fourteen of these majors got here on the French Open, the place he received 112 matches and suffered simply 4 defeats since his 2005 debut.
AFP Sport seems on the Spaniard’s 14 finals’ triumphs in Paris:
2005: bt Mariano Puerta (ARG) 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5At simply 19, Nadal grew to become the youngest winner of a Grand Slam title since Michael Chang, additionally at Roland Garros in 1989, at 17. He was the primary man since Mats Wilander in 1982 to win the French Open on his debut. Puerta was to later fail a medication check and handed an eight-year ban, ultimately decreased to 2 years.
2006: bt Roger Federer (SUI) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6Nadal grew to become the primary man to beat Federer in a Slam closing, ending the Swiss star’s hopes of holding all 4 majors on the similar time. It was Nadal’s sixtieth win in a row on clay.
2007: bt Roger Federer (SUI) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4The 21-year-old Nadal grew to become the primary man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win three successive titles at Roland Garros.
2008: bt Roger Federer (SUI) 6–1, 6–3, 6–0Nadal condemned his nice rival to his worst ever loss in a Grand Slam occasion. The Spaniard additionally received the title with out shedding a set, turning into the third man to take action within the Open period after Ilie Nastase and Borg.
2010: bt Robin Soderling (SWE) 6–4, 6–2, 6–4Nadal avenged his defeat to the Swede at Roland Garros 12 months earlier. Once more, Nadal completed the event with out having dropped a set. He additionally regained the world primary rating for the primary time since July 2009.
2011: bt Roger Federer (SUI) 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1Nadal claimed his sixth French Open to equal the document of Borg, additionally taking his Slam complete into double figures at 10. Federer had ended Novak Djokovic’s 43-match undefeated run within the semi-finals.
2012: bt Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5Nadal goes previous Borg’s document of six titles in Paris and ends Djokovic’s bid to be the primary man since Rod Laver in 1969 to carry all 4 majors on the similar time. Rain meant that the ultimate was accomplished on Monday, which was robust on Djokovic, who was a break up within the fourth set when the match was halted on Sunday night time.
2013: bt David Ferrer (ESP) 6–3, 6–2, 6–3Nadal comfortably beats his compatriot for an eighth French Open however the laborious yards have been achieved within the semi-finals when he defeated Djokovic 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 6–7, 9–7 in a 4-hour, 37-minute epic.
2014: bt Novak Djokovic (SRB) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4Title quantity 9 in his ninth closing for Nadal and his 14th Grand Slam success on a day the place temperatures nudged 30 levels. It was his forty fifth profession clay-court title.
2017: bt Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 6-2, 6-3, 6-1Nadal coasts to a document tenth French Open title, demolishing Wawrinka in a brutally one-sided closing, which additionally earns the Spaniard a fifteenth Grand Slam crown. Nadal, 31, turns into the primary man in historical past to win the identical main 10 occasions. It’s his most one-sided closing win since permitting Federer simply 4 video games within the 2008 closing.
2018: bt Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2Nadal strikes to 17 Grand Slam titles with an easy victory over Thiem. Nadal endured a nervy conclusion to the ultimate, nevertheless, when he wanted remedy within the third set for a finger damage.
2019: bt Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1Nadal overcomes dropping the second set by racing to victory over Thiem for the second successive 12 months. The 33-year-old, seemingly angered by shedding a set within the closing for the primary time since 2014, crushes the Austrian within the third and fourth units to make it 12 titles and take his win-loss document at Roland Garros to a staggering 93-2.
2020: bt Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6-0, 6-2, 7-5In a closing performed in entrance of a smattering of followers in a event delayed by 4 months as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, Nadal demolishes Djokovic to win his thirteenth French Open and equal the all-time document of 20 Grand Slam titles held by Roger Federer, who hailed the victory as “one in every of sport’s best achievements”.
2022: bt Casper Ruud (NOR) 6-3, 6-3, 6-0Nadal arrived at Roland Garros hampered by a left foot damage, regardless of having received his second Australian Open title earlier that 12 months.
He needed to come via robust matches towards Felix Auger-Aliassime, Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, however thrashed Norwegian Ruud in a one-sided closing to develop into the oldest male Roland Garros champion.
Nadal, 36, claimed his 112th match win at Roland Garros towards simply three defeats since his 2005 debut.
