Nadal remains clay king
13th June 2006
Clay-king Rafael Nadal continued to reign supreme on the courts of Roland Garros, as he recorded back-to-back singles titles after defeating Roger Federer in the men’s final.
In what was the most anticipated match-up of the tournament, Nadal overcame a slow start to post a 1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(4) victory over the world number one after three hours on court, taking his unblemished record to 14 wins at the Open.
Falling one match shy of becoming the third man to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once, and the sixth player to have won all four, Federer instead became the Spanish world number two’s 60th consecutive victim on his beloved clay surface.
Despite producing a greater number of winners (35 to 25), Federer’s unusually high unforced error count, nearly double that of his opponent’s for the match (51 to 28), and erratic rather than dependable backhand saw his progress halted after taking the opening set courtesy of a powerful display of groundstrokes and serving to the nervous play of Nadal.
But in quick-time Nadal’s game came to life and turned the tables on the Swiss, controlling play with his powerful forehand and overall confident play, with only one loss of serve throughout the remainder of the match and five opportunities for the breaking of his serve.
Slices of the Federer brilliance came to the forefront as he managed to break back to even the score as the defending champion served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set. Federer eventually forced the set to a tiebreaker but was unable to produce the goods to deny the only player to have defeated him in 2006 the win.
Commenting on the victory in a post-match press conference, Nadal felt the victory was more special than his win in 2005. “Is more special because I have difficult moments in the beginning of the season, the last year final season. So for me, is a dream stay here, no, No. 2 in the race, winning two Masters Series, one Grand Slam.”
Nadal now holds a 6-1 head-to-head lead as both players turn their attention to the short grass court season ahead with Wimbledon starting at the end of the month, where Federer will be looking to win his fourth straight men’s singles title.
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