Nadal

The Spaniard, who'll turn 36 during the French Open, has become the elder statesman tennis desperately needs.

Nadal is also looking to the future, and not necessarily his. After a few days of practice, Nadal took to the court fully aware, he says, that his foot might flare up and he might soon be back in Spain. That includes his physio, Rafael Maymo, a native of Manacor whom Nadal hired in 2006, when Nadal was 20 and Maymo was 26. Like a technician going down to the basement and tinkering, he has added dimensions to his game. In the final, Nadal was the underdog against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, a decade his junior and winner of the previous major. Nadal then won in Acapulco and reeled off five matches in Indian Wells before cracking a rib and losing in the final. He wins more than two-thirds of his tiebreakers and three-fourths of his decisive sets. He was the winner of 20 majors over his gilded career, part of a three-way tie with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the most of all time in men’s tennis. But to the joy of countless fans—not least, those Mallorcan cliff-diving property squatters—Nadal left his island and got back on the road. This might be the most unlikely chapter in the account of his time on court. And when he did play, he was far from peak Nadal. It played a role in preventing him from winning the French Open for an absurd, mind-bending 14th time. And for a while it looked as if the kids of Mallorca would never again have months of free reign on the property.

The 21-time Major champion Rafael Nadal will start his 18th Roland Garros on Monday. The 13-time winner in Paris has been dealing with a foot injury, ...

Rafa has lost only three matches in Paris since 2005, and he hopes for another deep run on Court Philippe-Chatrier. "The pain in my foot is always there; I can not hope it will disappear for two weeks. Heading to Paris, Nadal is working hard on his game, hoping to overcome the issues in the next two weeks and stand as a contender at his favorite Major. Still, Rafa stood no chance in the decider, dealing with foot pain and barely finishing the match without retiring.

Rafael Nadal showed no signs of pain as the 13-time French Open champion marched into the second round at Roland Garros with clinical 6-2 6-2 6-2 demolition ...

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Rafael Nadal may have a chronic left foot problem and stress fracture in one of his ribs, but none of it appeared to matter in his first match at Roland ...

McEnroe called Djokovic the favorite on a recent Podcast with me. Nadal, who turns 36 on June 3, would need to win six more matches to capture his 14th Roland Garros title and it won’t be easy. He improved to 106-3 at the event.

Rafael Nadal, the 13-time Roland Garros champion, powered to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Australian Jordan Thompson in the first round at the clay-court Grand ...

However, it was only a minor blip for the 21-time Grand Slam winner, who will be pleased who will be pleased with his first-round outing as he seeks a second major title of the year. Nadal struck 27 winners to Thompson’s 14, a sign of his baseline dominance, but the Spaniard was also effective coming forward. The Spaniard will now seek to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the 300-plus club in a second-round meeting with French wild card Corentin Moutet.

6 p.m.. Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka lost in the first round of the French Open to local wild-card entry Corentin Moutet.

That includes Iga Swiatek, Barbora Krejcikova, Rafael Nadal and, at night, Novak Djokovic. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion who used to be ranked No. 1 but dropped in the rankings after taking two mental health breaks last season. Osaka double-faulted twice on break point, once in each set. Anisimova is a 20-year-old American who reached the French Open semifinals in 2019. She has won the title at her past five tournaments. ___ ___ ___ Azarenka is a two-time Australian Open champion who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2013. ___ ___ He has also been dealing with chronic pain in his left foot.