Date: May 2016

Tournament: Roland Garros (French Open), Paris

Surface: Clay

Player: Rafael Nadal aka “King of Clay”, the fighter, the athlete and the guy who, people say, never gives up. One of the greatest tennis players that this generation has seen and possibly the greatest ever player on clay.

After a disappointing 2015 season, having won just one tournament, Nadal was hoping to turn things around in 2016. Having started the year by reaching just one final, Nadal was awaiting to own the clay court season yet again. After winning clay court titles in Montecarlo and Barcelona for the 9^th time, he had his sights on his beloved trophy, La Coupe des Mousquetaires (English: The Musketeers’ Trophy) awarded to the winner of the Men’s Singles competition at Roland Garros. He had won the same tournament on 9 different occasions and is the only tennis player to do so. So, obviously he was the overwhelming favourite to win it the 10^th time.

After scrapping through the first two rounds, the announcement that he was forfeiting the tournament owing to an injury to his left wrist, came as a shock to his fans.  In an interview, later that month he revealed, that not being able to play at his most favourite tournament was the worst feeling. He later withdrew from the Wimbledon Championships and was defeated in the 4^th round at the US Open Championships. The injury got worse during the tournament and he had to end the season ranked no. 9 in the world, his lowest ranking in 12 years. Critics questioned whether he would be able to reach the form that saw him win 14 grand slam titles and 69 titles overall.

Enter, 2017, a new season kicking off in Australia it was time for the first grand slam of the year – the Australian Open. After disappointing losses last year, it was important for Rafa to win the initial rounds in order to boost his confidence. And so, he did, in great fashion, with hard fought and impressive wins against players like Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov, Rafa reached the final at the Australian Open, his first grand slam final since the French Open in 2014. In the final, on the other side of the net was a familiar rival who was writing a comeback story of his own, Roger Federer. It was de ja vu for both as Rafa had won their last meeting in the final here 8 years ago. Both hungry for the title, both rewriting history. After a roller-coaster match lasting over 4 hours, Rafa faced defeat, but the defeat sent out a strong message that the great Rafa Nadal was back in the game.

What followed was pure domination of the clay season. After winning titles at Montecarlo, Barcelona and Madrid for the 10^th time in each of the tournaments, Rafa was back at his hunting ground – The French Open, waiting to claim his 10^th crown. He zoomed past opponents, winning in straight sets and reaching the final to defeat Stan Wawrinka to claim his crown. The emotions running through poured out at he hugged his beloved trophy while singing the national anthem of his country, Spain. With the win his tally of clay court titles is now 53, the most in history.

Like every year, the aim was to qualify for the year end championships, which meant competing in hard courts in the American swing of the tournaments. Rafa has had a decent record on hard courts, having dominated the surface in 2010 and 2013 winning all the hardcourt tournaments he contested in. But of late, players like Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer have shown their prowess on this surface. Injuries, heart-breaking losses and doubts about if he’d ever return to the top of the rankings. But during that time, he has courageously placed distractions to the side and forged ahead with the work of improving his career. At the Canadian Open at Toronto, by reaching the quarterfinals, Nadal repeated the feat he had achieved 9 years ago. On Monday 21 August, Nadal returned to No. 1 in the rankings.

At the US open, as the no 1 seed he looked in fine form to win the title for the 3^rd time since his title wins here in 2010 and 2013. Battling through tough matches against players like Taro Daniel, Andrey Rublev, Leonardo Mayer and Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal reached the final to defeat Kevin Anderson in straight set to claim his 16^th grand slam title and the second of the year. The US open victory was positive and confidence boosting to continue for the rest of the hardcourt season. Nadal continued the fine for in the Asian hardcourt swing, winning the title in Beijing and reaching the final in Shanghai.

As the race to end the year as No. 1 continues alongside Federer and 2 major tournaments yet to go, only time will tell if the year-end No. 1 ranking will be the cherry on the cake of the fairy tale year that Nadal has had. At 31 years of age, where critics are more concerned about his age than his achievements and titles, Rafa has proved that he still has the passion and love for the game and is ready to compete at the highest level.