From Rome to Manacor: the ninth title is now at the Rafa Nadal Museum Xperience

20.05.2019

There are many tennis and emotional elements that made the victory in Rome even more special, if that's possible in the Spaniard's history.

It hasn’t been just another week for Rafa Nadal. Many tennis and emotional factors have made the victory in Rome even more special, if that’s possible in the Spaniard’s history. Although practically every step he takes, every trophy he adds to the Rafa Nadal Museum Xperience showcase is accompanied by a record, in this new edition at the Foro Italico he continued to expand his legend after defending his title, lifting his first crown of the season and the ninth of his career on the Italian clay.

Nine titles in Rome. That’s easy to say. But only Federer has won the same number of trophies on the same stage, in Basel and Halle (9), both ATP 500 tournaments. However, Nadal has not only been able to reach the figure in the Italian capital, an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, but has also surpassed it in Barcelona (ATP 500), Monte Carlo (Masters 1000) and Roland Garros (Grand Slam), raising his tally to eleven. In Paris, he will be looking for his maximum number of trophies in a single tournament.

“Hello everyone, I’m here at the Museum. Yesterday was a very special, beautiful day, and today is good too. Finally being able to place this trophy next to these others is a beautiful moment, and I wanted to share it with all of you. So here it is for those of you who want to come and visit. A big hug, and I’ll see you in the museum.” “Paris,” Rafa Nadal said this morning from the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, moments before depositing the trophy at the Rafa Nadal Museum Xperience.

But before looking at the city that houses the Eiffel Tower, we must look at Rome to understand the magnitude of a sublime victory, which once again speaks to the Manacor native’s capacity for overcoming challenges. After three consecutive semifinals in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid, he didn’t give up on reaching Rome and conquering it once more. Jeremy Chardy, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Fernando Verdasco, and Stefanos Tsitsipas were his four victims on a path to the final in which he didn’t drop a set and spent a total of just three hours and 22 minutes on court.

On the day designated for the title battle, on the other side of the net was Novak Djokovic, the man with whom he shares the most repetitive rivalry in history. A total of 54 chapters explain the magnitude of this head-to-head, which in Rome went even more in Nadal’s favor (28-26). Furthermore, the Italian final saw a 6-0 scoreline for the first time between the two. Nadal won the opening set before losing the second set 4-6 and ultimately prevailing 6-1 in the third.

Djokovic’s volley into the net to seal the victory for the Spaniard served to mark the distance in another anecdotal duel between these two great players on the ATP Tour circuit. Nadal’s ninth trophy in Rome also marks the 34th ATP Masters 1000 title of his career, breaking the tie established last week when the Serbian won in Madrid. At the moment, the Spaniard leads the Spaniard by one point (34-33). Federer is in third place with 28, while Agassi—fourth and the player who retired as the player with the most titles at this level—has 17.

Nadal also consolidates his fourth place in all-time ranking for players with the most trophies won in their career. There are now 81 on display in the display cases at the Rafa Nadal Sports Centre Museum, 58 of which were won on clay, and 42 of them collected solely between Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Roland Garros. More than half of the total.

While the Spaniard maintains a rich record on all surfaces, his status as the all-time clay-court dominator is undeniable. As if that weren’t enough, this week he further fueled that label with a new personal best. Nadal became the player in history with the third most clay-court wins (429), surpassing Thomas Musters, who retired with 426, and behind Manuel Orantes (538) and Guillermo Vilas (679). However, Nadal is just seven wins away from his 950 career wins. That’s the seven he needs to win at Roland Garros. Will he achieve it? The answer is from May 26 to June 9.