PARIS (AP) 鈥 As the French Open enters a new, post-Rafa, era this year, there are a couple of prevailing sentiments among tennis players.
One is: It’s a shame the world won’t get to see the King of Clay, as came to be called, ply his unique brand of on the crushed red brick of Roland-Garros, where he won a record 14 of his .
The other, expressed by men who would love to get a chance at carving their own bit of history at the place, goes like this: Whew, it sure will be nice not to have that guy looming in the bracket now that .
Players no longer need to worry about Nadal at the French Open
鈥淟uckily 鈥 or unluckily 鈥 I never got to ,鈥 said American Tommy Paul, a 2023 Australian Open semifinalist currently ranked 12th.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to not have to worry about him, I guess,鈥 Paul added with a laugh. 鈥淭hat’s the main thing that comes to my mind.鈥
Players repeatedly used the word 鈥渄ifferent鈥 to describe what it鈥檒l be like without Nadal around.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be strange for the fans, above all,鈥 said top-10 player Lorenzo Musetti, an Italian who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and earned an Olympic bronze medal in 2024. 鈥淏ut the history he made in Paris will never be forgotten.鈥
Nadal’s 14 French Open titles are a record for any Grand Slam tournament
To be sure, .
鈥淚mpossible,鈥 defending champion Carlos Alcaraz said, 鈥渢o repeat.鈥
Nadal collected more championships than any other player at one major tennis tournament, spanning from his first, which arrived two days after his 19th birthday in his 2005 debut, to his that required nerve-dulling injections. He went .
One measure of just how good Nadal was there is reflected in his head-to-head records against the other two members of the Big Three of men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Nadal went 8-2 against Djokovic in the French Open 鈥 accounting for about 15% of all of Djokovic’s lifetime Grand Slam losses anywhere 鈥 and .
鈥淲hat a legend. What an ambassador for the sport,鈥 Australian player Thanasi Kokkinakis said about Nadal. 鈥淥ne of the greatest athletes ever 鈥 not just in tennis.鈥
Nadal will be honored by a ceremony at the French Open on Sunday
He certainly left his indelible mark in Paris. A larger-than-life statue was erected near an entrance to the tournament grounds in 2021, while he was still active; will be held Sunday in the main stadium, Court Philippe-Chatrier, after the first three matches of Day 1.
One would imagine that Nadal will be treated to the sort of applause and chants of 鈥淩a-fa!鈥 he heard often, including when he played for the final time at the site 鈥 鈥 and left describing the 鈥渦nforgettable feeling and emotions鈥 he enjoyed.
And no one who ever faced him, or watched him, at the French Open will forget his lefty whip of a forehand or the way he stood so far back to return serve or the way he chased every ball. Or the way the arena announcer would list off all of his ever-growing list of championship years before a match. Or the way Nadal would bite his trophies after winning one, something Naomi Osaka emulated after claiming her first clay-court title just last month.
鈥淎s a tennis community, everybody鈥檚 going to miss Rafa, for sure. If I were thinking about it selfishly, I would say, 鈥極f course I want to watch Rafa play. Of course I want him to be here,’” former No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka said. “But I see it a little bit differently. I look at it as that was his decision. Same with when Serena (Williams) left. Of course I miss Serena; she was my biggest motivator. But they鈥檝e moved on in their life to what鈥檚 best for them. And I just have so much respect for what they鈥檝e done for the sport. How much they contributed. How much they elevated it. My only thing is to say, 鈥楾hank you,鈥 to players like that.鈥
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP鈥檚 tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: . More AP tennis:
