Cheers rang out and a river of tears flowed as Rafael Nadal, the king of clay, came back to the land where he stomped all over Roger and Novak and Andy and everyone else to the point that he has a plaque in the clay on centre court bearing his footprint and the number 14 to denote his haul of titles. Vamos!
Veni. Lusi. Vici. I came. I played. I conquered.
Apologies to Julius Caesar but his line Veni. Vidi. Vici. (I came. I saw. I conquered) after hacking up Pharnaces II in 47BC at the Battle of Zela in what is now Turkey came to mind during the ceremony to hail Rafael Nadal for his savagery at the Roland Garros Stadium on his way to 14 singles titles between 2005 and 2024. But the warrior supreme says it's no great shakes. "I really feel that if I did it – I don't consider myself somebody very, very special – another one is going to come and achieve that too," said Nadal. "A lot of things need to happen in your favour to make that happen. You need a long career and you can't have a lot of injuries, even if I had lots of them. You can have injuries and you can have very, very bad days. You need some luck, too."
Zen and sensibility
Following his 45 minute love-in with the people on centre court, Rafael Nadal went behind the scenes at the French Open to talk with journalists who, naturally, continued the caress. And why not? The legendary terminator is at leisure. But how does a man with his own plaque dug into centre court cope with retirement? "I am discovering what really excites me and motivates me to keep going," the 38-year-old Spaniard admitted. "And that's all. I am having fun. I don't miss tennis much because I feel that I gave all what I had. I arrive today with the peace that I can't be on court. My body doesn't allow me to be on court. So that's all. I am in peace. I did all what I could to have the best career possible, and now I am enjoying this new phase of my life."
Four tops
Day 1 and a musical reference. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the tournament. French Open organisers reached out to Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to be there on centre court for the homage to Rafael Nadal. The fabled "Big Four" all looked tanned and relaxed as they joshed and joked. Nadal paid tribute to the lads. "Novak is playing here, so it's easier but Andy and Roger came just for this and it means a lot to me," Nadal said. "At the end they represent a very important part of my tennis career, because in some way we pushed each other to the limits."
Extras
Somewhat impertinently, an actual Grand Slam tournament is underway in Paris. Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed in the women's draw, mangled her chum Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 and spoke of the difficulty of first matches at Grand Slam events. Oh really? Eighth seed Qinwen Zheng had more basis for similar comments after seeing off the 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3. Jasmine Paolini lived the grief. The fourth seed, who lost last year in the final to Iga Swiatek, was taken to a decider by the unseeded Chinese player Yue Yuan. But the Italian prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. "The first set came so fast for me," said Paolini. "And then my attention and intensity went down a little bit. But I'm happy how I managed to come back, especially in the third set because it wasn't easy."
Grit
France's third best player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard showed remarkable nerve during his match on Court Suzanne Lenglen against Zizou Bergs. At one set apiece, the 25-year-old Belgian led 5-0 in the third set tiebreaker. When his adversary clenched his fist after a crunching serve to reduce Bergs' lead to 5-1, it appeared flailing bravado. But no. Something testosterone fuelled was alight. The 21-year-old burned brightly through the next six points to take the shoot-out 7-5. The muscles bulged purposefully during the fourth set allowing the 31st seed to register his first victory in his third visit to his home Grand Slam tournament. Only another six wins to go to lift the first title. And then another 13 of those after that to match the feats of a certain Spaniard.
