Rafa's historic run in Barcelona has tennis world in awe

Apr 30, 2017
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Rafa's historic run in Barcelona has tennis world in awe

The Spaniard picked up his 10th title at the tournament.

Published Apr 30, 2017

Rafael Nadal further cemented his status as the favorite for the French Open this week in Barcelona, making more history along the way.

A week after the Spaniard became the first ATP player in the Open Era to win 10 titles at the same tournament, doing so in Monte Carlo, the clay-court great did it again in Barcelona, beating world No. 9 Dominic Thiem, 6-4, 6-1, to win the trophy.

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Nadal has won so many titles in Barcelona, that the tournament even named its center court after him in time for the Spaniard to win the trophy on his own court, Pista Rafa Nadal.

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Despite the lopsided scoreline, Nadal faced stiff competition in the first set against Thiem in the final. But just look at this point to see the crazy level that Thiem had to play to win a point against the former world No. 1:

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Nadal is two-thirds of the way to an unfathomable clay-court hat trick — winning 10 titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Paris. The best clay-court player of all time has nine championships at the French Open. The only thing that Nadal has never done on clay is win all three Masters 1000 tournaments on clay in the same year. Could 2017 be his time to do it?

Even 18-time grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who leads the year-to-date rankings with wins in Melbourne, Indian Wells and Miami, said that Nadal will be the favorite at Roland Garros.

“Rafa is the favorite,” Federer told Tennis Channel. “I think he’s so good on clay. He’s shown it again with his 10th Monte Carlo. It’s mind-blowing, because I’ve played him there.”

Perhaps ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert put it best. If you weren’t sure if Nadal is back to his old clay-conquering self, just check out the former world No. 4’s tweet after Nadal beat Thiem:

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