Defeating the "Mr. of the Terracotta Court" at the present time seems to be one of the impossible tasks. As legend John McEnroe has assessed: Living Nadal on clay was as difficult as... licking his elbow. That is unimaginable.
However, that was when we compared the Spaniard's superiority over the rest of the village to beg. But if we tried to do an even more difficult comparison, comparing Nadal's present and the past 10 years ago, who would be the winner?
Nadal of 2017
First of all, Rafa of 2017 has experience, a veteran who has dominated the clay surface for the entire season. Over the past 10 years, he has also won dozens of different major and minor titles. And even though tennis has been upgraded and developed rapidly, he can still adjust himself to adapt and be one of the extremely excellent players.
Second, the former world No. 1 has regained his confidence and feel of playing at his peak. The perfect warm-up for Roland Garros is the clearest proof when the Spaniard has only lost 1 of his last 18 matches on clay. And in this tournament, up to the semi-final against Dominic Thiem, the "king of clay" has always maintained a 3-0 victory over all opponents and the scores of the sets are also very overwhelming.
He is not an invincible player in France now, but if you look at Nadal's winning and losing record here, it is difficult for any player to do it. Winning 78 matches and only losing twice. The two matches that forced Rafa to stop at the French Open were a surprise defeat in the quarter-finals of 2009 against Robin Soderling, then against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of 2015.
Although the 31-year-old did not have his best form last season and missed many tournaments, after all, his usual diligence this year has brought a positive signal. He has returned to the top 4, and after this tournament, will Rafa improve his ranking on the ATP rankings?
Nadal of 2007
10 years ago, what did Rafa have? Youth, guilt and a little blood. He is always an ideal model and one of the strongest and fastest players on the court. But compared to 2007, the champions of 14 Grand Slam titles have now gradually eroded more or less due to injuries as well as physical attacks.
Moreover, at the age of 21, Nadal - the world No. 2 tennis player at that time also had extremely impressive achievements. Entering Roland Garros 2007, he had only lost 1 of his 82 matches on clay (against Roger Federer in the Hamburg final).
And at that time, he was still an unbeaten player at the French Open. Every time I carry my racket onto the field, I win, every time I enter the final, I get a championship trophy. Year after year, whether opponent Roger Federer is on top of the world or not, the trophy in Paris will still be a motivation for Rafa.
Difficulty in weighing and measuring
Even tennis experts who have always closely followed every movement, even the smallest, of the beggars and wardens of the Spaniard, feel uncomfortable at this difficult question.
As expert Ed Mcgrogan once commented: "It's impossible to compare. It is difficult to compare one generation to another. And it is difficult to compare the same person but at two different times. Nadal in 2007 was approaching his peak, but his passes were not as diverse and unpredictable as they would be in the future a factor that helped the world No. 4 achieve other successes than clay. Along with that, his first hand now is also much better. However, at the present time, if he had lost on clay, it would not be too big, or even an unusual phenomenon like 10 years ago. If it were me, I would lean towards Rafa 2017 to win on hard courts, and for other courts, I would choose Rafa 2007, the demanding expert commented.
Contrary to Ed Mcgrogan's point of view, a series of prestigious experts from the Tennis.com website such as Ashley Ndebele, Nina Pantic, Steve Tignor, and Brad Kallet all have their own perspectives to support Rafa's victory in 2007. According to them, the 31-year-old tennis player at the moment, although playing well, can hardly compare with 10 years ago. Even though this year, the winning and losing record was 17-1 on clay before competing with Roland Garros, it is still unmatchable compared to the class of 2007.
Only Steve Flink was on Nadal's side in 2017. According to this expert, at present, the king of clay and clay has significantly improved his weaknesses. These include heavier, more dangerous and diverse serve. Along with that, champion of the 9 titles Roland Garros also played with more determination and strength. Although he almost reached his peak form 10 years ago, the above two factors are still what he lacked when he was only 21 years old.
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