Roland Garros unveils Rafael Nadal statue

It pays to be a 13-time tournament champion.

On Thursday, a statue of Rafael Nadal was unveiled at Roland Garros. Placed next to the new general public entrance gate and the Jardin des Mousquetaires, the statue was sculpted by Jordi Diez Fernandez.

The man of the hour was present, alongside FFT President Gilles Moretton, tournament director Guy Forget and Diez Fernandez.

“It means a lot. Having a statue within such a special place for our sport, in a place that is very special for me is something unique. Not being French, I can only say thanks to the FFT, to the former President who promoted it and the current President who continued with the project.”

Also unveiled at the ceremony were the statues of aviator Roland Garros, and the four musketeers Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste.

Seeded third, Nadal will begin his Roland Garros title defense against Alexei Popyrin on Sunday. The Spaniard, who is in the same half as top seed Novak Djokovic and eighth-seeded Roger Federer, and is looking for his fifth consecutive clay-court major title. Nadal and Federer are currently tied with 20 Grand Slam singles titles a piece, with Djokovic not far behind with his 18.