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| Nadal is slowly cementing his legacy with the all-time tennis greats. |
The win tied him with tennis legend Bjorn Born for the most career wins at Roland Garros. Born, who many consider to be one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, was also able to win five consecutive Wimbledon titles during his career compared to Nadal's two, which did not happen to come in consecutive years.
Nadal continues his unbelievable dominance of arguably the greatest tennis player in history. The Spaniard is now 17-8 in his career head-to head matchups against Federer including a 6-2 advantage in Grand Slam finals. Nadal is now 5-0 against Federer at the French Open and 45-1 overall at the event. His only loss came in 2009 when he lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth-round on a court, he had never really been challenged on. Oddly enough that would be the year Federer captured his only French Open title of his career thus far.
For Nadal, it is tenth major championship of his career tying him with American Bill Tilden for sixth on the all-time list. Federer is the all-time leader with sixteen of his own, but at twenty-nine and ranked as the third best player in the world he might need to increase that total with Nadal just turning twenty-five.
The question will be if in fact Nadal can stay healthy to achieve those heights. The southpaw has had ongoing knee injuries for quite some time causing him to miss major tournaments, most recently at last years Australian Open. Federer would go on to win that tournament completing his career Grand Slam.
Injuries might be the only hinder between Nadal and Federer's all-time Grand Slam mark. As for his continued dominance on clay, the record speaks for itself. "He plays better against the better ones and that's what he showed today," said Federer, who ended Nadal's 81-match winning streak on clay back in 2007. "He's a great champion, on clay especially."
This is a story of man and his surface.
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