In the last 15 years Nadal has won the French Open a staggering 12 times, with his only two losses coming against Robin Soderling in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in 2015. (A wrist injury forced him to withdraw in 2016).
Such mastery on one surface is unprecedented, and it doesn’t look likely that Nadal’s astonishing run will be equaled any time soon.
It’s no surprise that the King of Clay has been lauded by scores of people over the years, from both within the tennis community and without. And the latest to join Nadal’s list of admirers is 1988 French Open runner-up Henri Leconte.
Speaking to Stats Perform, Leconte compared Nadal’s Roland Garros performance to that of a Formula One racing team, and attributed the Spaniard’s success to his never-diminishing willingness to improve.
Rafael Nadal is mentally out of this world: Leconte
Leconte also showered praise on the mindset of the former World No. 1 when he plays on the terre battue. Calling his mentality “out of the world”, the 1984 French Open doubles champion admitted that he could never play a set like Nadal.
Leconte did acknowledge that the likes of Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling are equipped with the tools to counter Nadal’s strategy on occasion. But to do it consistently over the course of a best-of-five set match is easier said than done.
Leconte further added that while Nadal may be good on other surfaces too, what makes him especially deadly on clay is his indefatigable spirit combined with his unrivaled physical stamina. That’s a combination Nadal’s rivals can never hope to match consistently; once the Mallorcan decides to up the ante, the battle becomes totally one-sided.
Under relentless pressure from Rafael Nadal on the opposite side of the net, his opponents are bound to implode.
‘Sergi Bruguera was a bit like Nadal’
Spain has a history of producing a long line of claycourt champions. And one of them was Sergi Bruguera, who conquered Roland Garros in 1993 and 1994.
Bruguera reigned on clay in the early 1990s before Austria’s Thomas Muster took over, and he is still remembered for his spectacular movement and tireless defense.
Leconte faced Bruguera four times in his career, and failed to win a single match. Bruguera made Leconte ‘run everywhere’, and the Frenchman just couldn’t find a way to pierce through the Spaniard’s defenses.
Leconte feels Nadal has now taken that watertight defensive style to another level, and is amazed at how much work the 12-time Slam champion has put into his game.
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