The Baseline Top 9: Nadal's most crucial Roland Garros wins

Rafael Nadal is indisputably the best male clay courter in history. Only four players have won more total Grand Slams—period—than Nadal has won French Opens (nine). Some of the sport’s all time greats—Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi among them—have won fewer majors than Nadal has won in Paris alone.

But this year, the Spaniard is the favorite to do the unfathomable: win a 10th crown. No other player has won more than seven trophies at a single Grand Slam. Let’s rank Nadal’s most significant wins on the terre battue:

1

Final: Nadal def. Roger Federer, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0

Four games. That is what Nadal limited the now 18-time Grand Slam champion to in an entire major final. That in itself is insane.

But the entire 2008 French Open was about Nadal, Nadal and more Nadal. If the Spaniard’s first three wins were impressive, then there is nothing to describe this performance. One could easily argue that playing Fernando Verdasco and Nicolas Almagro on clay is no easy task. Yet Nadal beat the two seeded players in a laughably easy manner, dropping a mere three games in each match.

Nadal then beat Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, in straight sets to reach the final, where he thrashed the best player of all time in an unfathomable performance.

2

Final: Nadal def. Mariano Puerta, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5

There are players who hope to play respectably in their first appearance at a particular Grand Slam. Then there is Nadal, who won the title in his Paris debut.

Sure, he was the fourth seed in the tournament, but for a teenager to show up on one of the greatest stages in tennis and make his way through the field in confident fashion was astonishing.

The Spaniard, showing few signs of nerves in his first spin on Roland Garros’ iconic red clay, dropped just three sets in the entire tournament to clinch his first French Open title.

3

Semifinals: Nadal def. Djokovic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7

It was almost a given that Nadal would cruise past David Ferrer in the final after this semifinal epic.

In one of the greatest matches in recent years, Nadal beat Djokovic in a titanic tug-of-war that nobody will forget anytime soon. The world No. 1-ranked Serb was up a break late in the fifth set of the four hour and 37 minute match, just two holds away from victory. But Nadal refused to give up, fighting back from the brink, and dashing Djokovic's dreams.

Perhaps the most incredible part about it was that Nadal was still working his way back into form after a seven month layoff due to injury.

“These kind of matches make the sport big,” Nadal said. “I lost similar one in Australia. Today was for me.”

4

Final: Nadal def. Djokovic,  3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4

A set into the 2014 French Open final, it looked like Djokovic was destined to pick up his first trophy at Roland Garros and with it the No. 1 ranking. The Serbian had won his previous four matches against the Spaniard, and looked like he might even take a two sets to none lead against the eight-time champion in Paris.

But a poor service game at 5-6 in the second set completely changed the momentum, and Nadal came back to extend his record of wins at a single Grand Slam to nine, which still stands.

“I knew I had lost four times in a row to Novak, and to be able to win again against him was very important to me,” Nadal said. “I had enough courage. I made the right decisions at the right moment and ended up on top.”

For the ninth time in ten years, the King of Clay raised the Coupe des Mosquetaires, even when it seemed like it wasn’t his.

5

Final: Nadal def. Federer, 1–6, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6 (4)

Federer won 92 matches in 2006, losing just five times. Four of those five defeats, including this one in the final of the French Open, came at the hands his (now) chief rival: Nadal. This was the first of nine meetings between two of the greatest players ever in a Grand Slam final.

A few weeks earlier, they played for over five hours before Nadal triumphed in a fifth set tiebreaker. This match didn’t quite live up to its billing, as Nadal bounced back from a sluggish start to win his second title at Roland Garros and his 60th match in a row on clay—that’s not a typo.

6

First round: Nadal def. Joh Isner, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4

Is there any player on any surface you would feel more confident in down two sets to one at a major than Nadal on red clay? Shockingly, the big-serving John Isner put the defending champion in a deep hole in the opening round, winning tiebreakers in the second and third sets to give himself a realistic chance to pull off the shocker.

But as you would expect, Nadal raised his level. Isner would not make heavy favorite the first top seed to lose at the French Open since Stefan Edberg in 1990, as the Spaniard pulled through with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4 victory.

“The way he played in the fourth and fifth set—I haven’t seen tennis like that, ever,” Isner said. “That’s why he’s No. 1 in the world, and one of the greatest ever.”

Even so, it looked like Nadal might have his work cut out for him. Djokovic arrived in Paris with a 43-match winning streak in tow. The Serbian was seeking to tie and pass John McEnroe’s record of 42 wins to start a season, and with it, earn his first French Open title. But Federer beat him in the semifinals.

Nadal only dropped one set the rest of the way, going on to beat Federer in the final.

7

Final: Nadal def. Robin Soderling, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

What a difference a year makes.

After falling to Robin Soderling in one the most shocking upsets in tennis history in 2009, Nadal exacted revenge on the Swedish star, sweeping past the windmill-swinging Soderling in straight sets to raise the trophy again.

Nobody beats Nadal on the French Open’s red clay two years in a row (at least not yet). He didn't drop a single set all fortnight long and the win helped him regain the No. 1 ranking from Federer.

8

Final: Nadal def. Djokovic, 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5

The closest set that Nadal had to play through the first four rounds at the 2012 French Open was 6-4. In the fourth round, Nadal beat recently-retired clay court specialist Juan Monaco, the No. 13 seed, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, winning the final 17 games of the match. If that doesn’t demonstrate ruthless form, there is no such thing.

When Nadal advanced to the final only to see Djokovic on the other side of the net, a win was certainly not a given. Despite beating Djokovic twice on clay courts that spring, the Serbian took out the Spaniard in a thriller to win the Australian Open. In fact, the No. 1 seed had beaten Nadal in three straight major finals.

But as he has virtually always done, Nadal rose to the occasion to become the first player to win seven French Open titles, and nixed Djokovic’s chances of holding all four Grand Slams at once.

9

Final: Nadal def. Federer, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

The 2007 French Open was Nadal’s third win on the terre battue, and he faced little resistance as he worked his way through the draw. In retrospect, five of the Spaniard’s opponents had won or eventually did capture a Grand Slam title. Today, there is not a player in the world who would want to face Juan Martin del Potro early in a tournament. To then have to play four former or eventual world No. 1’s—Lleyton Hewitt, Carlos Moya, Djokovic and Federer—seems insurmountable.

It is hard to discount what Federer was playing for, too. The Swiss had yet to win the French Open, and he was attempting to become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four majors at the same time.

A win in Paris was not in his cards, though. Nadal was too good (again), beating Federer in the final for the second year in a row.

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