“What was supposed to be a strong symbol, a tribute, was seen as messy business.” -FIle photo

PARIS: Rafael Nadal will not be protected with a higher seeding at the French Open, tournament director Gilbert Ysern said on Saturday.

Roland Garros committee member Guy Forget suggested last month that the Spaniard, who has slipped to fifth in the world rankings, should be protected to avoid a potential quarter-final clash with world number one Novak Djokovic.

“Considering what Nadal represents in Paris, i.e. the best player in the tournament’s history, it seemed incongruous that he arrives in Paris with the number 4 or 5 bib,” Ysern told French sports daily L’Equipe, adding that he backed off because the move would not have been welcomed.

“But it was said to be fiddling,” he said.

“What was supposed to be a strong symbol, a tribute, was seen as messy business.”

Nadal, who missed seven months of tennis because of a knee injury, trails world number four David Ferrer in the ATP rankings and has little chance of closing the points gap before the French Open begins on May 26.

Federer’s golden era saw him win nine of his first 10 Grand Slam finals. He may never hit those heights again, but on the evidence of Sunday’s victory he isn’t finished yet. -Photo by AFP

LONDON: When Roger Federer last strode off Centre Court as Wimbledon champion it must have seemed impossible to the Swiss great that it would take another three years of frustration and angst before he would reclaim his crown.

Fededer’s 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Andy Murray in Sunday’s final secured a record-equalling seventh title at the All England Club and returned him to the top of the world rankings after a two-year absence.

Although Federer has become accustomed to Wimbledon glory, the emotion he showed after his victory over Murray suggested this meant much more than just the thrill of increasing his record tally of major titles to 17.

This was a cathartic moment for Federer, who has spent the last three years fending off pointed questions about his supposed decline following a barren run at the Grand Slams stretching back to his 2010 victory at the Australian Open.

However much Federer argued otherwise, for sometime now the feeling has persisted that for a father of two young daughters, tennis was no longer quite so important as when he first unveiled his dazzling talent by shocking Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.

So reestablising his primacy at Wimbledon was the perfect response to the critics. No wonder he fell to the turf crying tears of joy.

It was a marked contrast to his last Wimbledon triumph against Andy Roddick in 2009.

That success felt like a resumption of normal service for Federer after the previous year’s defeat in a five-set classic against Rafael Nadal snapped his remarkable run of five successive Wimbledon titles.

At that point Federer had just completed the rare double of back to back wins at the French Open and Wimbledon and still seemed at the peak of his powers.

Yet the following 36 months would be the toughest period of Federer’s career and by the time he arrived in south-west London for his 14th Wimbledon campaign two weeks ago, the 30-year-old was widely regarded as a fading force.

In hindsight, a surprise defeat against Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open highlighted the small cracks in Federer’s game that Nadal and Novak Djokovic would exploit so ruthlessly.

After starting 2010 with a victory over Murray to win in Australia, Federer would appear in only one of the next nine Grand Slam finals and even that ended in the familiar sensation of a drubbing by Nadal on the clay at Roland Garros.

With Djokovic enjoying one of the greatest individual seasons in tennis history last year, Federer’s ranking slipped to number three and some even began to debate his previously unquestioned right to be regarded as the greatest of all time.

Most baffling of all was his form at Wimbledon, where he suffered successive quarter-final exits in 2010, against Tomas Berdych, and 2011 against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a shocking defeat which marked the first time Federer had lost a two-set lead in a Grand Slam

It was all a far cry from the period when Federer, who fell in love with tennis as a child in Basel, Switzerland, reigned supreme over the sport, spending 285 weeks as world number one over two spells.

Once he conquered a notoriously short temper as a teenager, Federer was able to show off the full extent of his talent.

At times his only competition seemed to be the history books as one success followed another with breathtaking speed.

His breakthrough victory came at Wimbledon in 2003 when he defeated Mark Philippoussis in straight sets.

That opened the floodgates and the following year he hoovered up three of the four majors, defending his Wimbledon title and adding maiden triumphs at the Australian and US Opens.

Federer’s golden era saw him win nine of his first 10 Grand Slam finals.

He may never hit those heights again, but on the evidence of Sunday’s victory he isn’t finished yet.

In a fractious final pushed into a third week for only the second time because of Sunday’s rain, the Spanish world number two, playing in his 16th Grand Slam final, also took his Paris record to a staggering 52 wins against just one loss. -Photos by Agencies

He says “please” and ‘”thank-you” to ballboys and ballgirls and when he’s not hammering the life out of tennis balls and squeezing the spirit out of opponents, he’s happiest on the golf course or fishing with friends at his Spanish home on Manacor. -Photo by AFP

PARIS: Rafael Nadal, whose on-court routine includes picking the rear of his shorts and diligently lining up his water bottles, labels facing away, is making a habit of winning French Opens.

The Spaniard made it a record seven on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over world number one Novak Djokovic, ending the Serb’s hopes of becoming only the third man to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

But Nadal is a reluctant superstar whose idea of a late night is being pictured after 10pm watching his beloved Real Madrid.

He says “please” and ‘”thank-you” to ballboys and ballgirls and when he’s not hammering the life out of tennis balls and squeezing the spirit out of opponents, he’s happiest on the golf course or fishing with friends at his Spanish home on Manacor.

Victory on Monday took him beyond the six Roland Garros titles of Swedish legend Bjorn Borg and onto 11 Grand Slam crowns in total, one behind Roy Emerson, three off the 14 of Pete Sampras and five from Roger Federer’s record of 16.

Not that the 26-year-old will be shouting it from the rooftops.

“I have much more than I ever dreamed,” said Nadal, whose win under gloomy Paris skies boosted his career earnings to a very sunny $50 million.

Maybe, but most men of his age can indeed only dream of appearing in a steamy pop video with Shakira as his did in 2010.

Nadal’s talents were spotted and nurtured early.

His uncle, Miguel Angel Nadal, played professional football for Barcelona and the Spanish national team.

But it was another uncle, Toni, who has overseen his career, who introduced him to tennis when he was three.

He made his professional debut in September, 2001, as a 15-year-old, losing his first match in Madrid but winning his first a week later in Seville.

His first win on the ATP Tour came in Mallorca the following year, two months short of his 16th birthday.

By 2003, the world was taking notice when Nadal went through qualifying at the prestigious Monte Carlo Masters and reached the third round.

He has since won the title on the Riviera eight times.

By 2004, he was the youngest player to feature in a Davis Cup winning team and in 2005, he became the first man since Mats Wilander in 1982 to clinch the French Open on his debut.

Nadal has suffered a few bumps along the way.

His defeat to Robin Soderling at the French Open in 2009 — his only loss at Roland Garros in 53 matches — came at a time when his long battle with knee injuries threatened to overwhelm him.

His parents Ana Maria and Sebastian also separated at that time and Nadal’s misery was compounded when he had to tearfully withdraw from Wimbledon where he had been defending champion.

Nadal was being written off then, as he was in 2011 and into January this year when he lost seven finals in succession to Djokovic, three of them at Grand Slams.

The last of those was in Australia where the Serb clinched a six-hour marathon, the longest final in a major of all time.

But Nadal, fit again and with the bandages long removed from his troublesome left knee, swept through the claycourt season at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome before clubbing his way into the record books on Monday.

The celebrations were ecstatic as Nadal fell to his knees and consoled Djokovic before the champion climbed into the player’s box to embrace his family. -Photo by AFP

PARIS: Rafael Nadal clinched a record seventh French Open title on Monday, defeating world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and shattering the Serb’s dream of Grand Slam history.

In a fractious final pushed into a third week for only the second time because of Sunday’s rain, the Spanish world number two, playing in his 16th Grand Slam final, also took his Paris record to a staggering 52 wins against just one loss.

Victory, which was achieved on a Djokovic double fault, allowed him to break the tie for six French Opens he shared with Bjorn Borg.

It was the 26-year-old’s 11th Grand Slam title, taking him one behind Roy Emerson, three off Pete Sampras and five away from the record of 16 held by Roger Federer.

For five-time major winner Djokovic, the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion, it was the end of his dream of emulating Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) by holding all the Grand Slams at once.

He was left to regret his unforced error count of 53 which undermined his challenge.

After Sunday’s suspension, the players, meeting in a fourth successive Grand Slam final, resumed with Nadal leading 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2, but with Djokovic in the ascendancy and serving for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set.

But a forehand error from Djokovic, with the court at his mercy, gave Nadal a break point and the Spaniard seized it when the Serb had been left flat-footed by a net cord which allowed his opponent to push through a winner.

The set remained tight as would be expected with the pair meeting for a 33rd time.

Nadal moved to 5-4 as the umbrellas went up all around Philippe Chatrier Court and the players sat courtside to wait out a passing, heavy shower and complained to tournament referee Stefan Fransen about the slippery conditions.

Djokovic finally buckled when a monster forehand from Nadal set up championship point which he converted when the top seed tamely served up a fourth double fault.

The celebrations were ecstatic as Nadal fell to his knees and consoled Djokovic before the champion climbed into the player’s box to embrace his family.

On Sunday, Djokovic had looked down and out at one stage, even picking up a warning for destroying his courtside chair box with his racquet.

After slipping two sets down, he was also a break behind at 0-2 in the third before he reeled off eight games in succession to take the third set — the first lost by Nadal in this year’s event — and lead 2-0 in the fourth.

The first game of the fourth set had featured a gruelling 44-shot rally.

But Nadal had raged at tournament referee Stefan Fransen for having to keep playing as the court became increasingly treacherous.

As he stormed, Djokovic, who had been two sets to love down to Andreas Seppi in the fourth round, and saved four match points in his quarter-final victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seized his chance to get back into the match.

The last time a French Open men’s final failed to be completed on the last Sunday was 1973 when it was played on the Tuesday with Ilie Nastase beating Niki Pilic.

Monday finishes have become common at the US Open in New York with the last four finals taking place on the extra day while the 2001 Wimbledon final was also completed on a Monday.

Roland Garros will eventually avoid late finishes as a main court with a retractable roof is to be built in 2017.

“But when I fell to me knees today on the court I realised that winning here was extremely special, even more so.” -Photo by AFP

PARIS: Maria Sharapova said her French Open triumph was a greater achievement than her teenage 2004 Wimbledon breakthrough which launched her on the road to international fame and fortune.

The Russian, one of the few genuine stars in the women’s game, completed a career Grand Slam by beating Italy’s Sara Errani 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday.

It was the 25-year-old’s first Roland Garros title and fourth major of her career, but first since she recovered from a potentially career-ending shoulder injury.

“It’s the most unique, surreal moment. I never thought I would have it. When I won Wimbledon at 17, I thought that would be the most cherished moment of my career,” she said.

“But when I fell to me knees today on the court I realised that winning here was extremely special, even more so.”

Sharapova added the 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open titles to her 2004 win at Wimbledon before the shoulder injury sidelined her for 10 months, sending her ranking spiralling to 126 in the world.

She has endured numerous false starts since that time and losses in the 2011 Wimbledon final to Petra Kvitova and this year’s Australian Open title match at the hands of Victoria Azarenka led many to ponder whether she had been overtaken by a new generation of big-hitters.

But titles on clay in Stuttgart and Rome in the run-up to Paris transformed her into one of the favourites for the Paris title which she achieved with a 6-3, 6-2 win over the out-gunned Errani in just 90 minutes.

With the Williams sisters on the wane, Kim Clijsters about to retire and the likes of Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki struggling for consistent levels of success, Sharapova believes there are many more majors coming her way.

“It’s been a long journey, I started from such a young age, but I’m not done yet, far from it,” she said.

“I have a lot more to achieve, I always believed in my game and that I could get better on grass, clay, cement.”

Sharapova said she was increasingly motivated by the people who wrote her off, never doubting her own powers or the influence of those around her.

“No matter how tough it was or if people didn’t believe in me, I never listened. I only listened to my own voice which told me that I would succeed again and I did.

“No matter how many punches I took, I didn’t care. I always got back up again. There were no excuses. I love this work of playing tennis. I could have said I have had enough when I was injured.

“I could have said I have enough money and fame, but when your love for the sport is bigger than those things, then you still get up to practice when it’s freezing or when others have no belief.”

Victory for world number two Nadal will mean becoming the first man to win seven French Opens, breaking a tie for six he currently holds with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg. -Photo by AFP

PARIS: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal square off in a record fourth successive Grand Slam final on Sunday with the French Open title and a place in tennis folklore at stake.

A win for world number one Djokovic, playing in his first Roland Garros final, will make him only the third man in history — and first in 43 years — to hold all four majors at the same time.

Victory for world number two Nadal will mean becoming the first man to win seven French Opens, breaking a tie for six he currently holds with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg.

Nadal, with a staggering Roland Garros career record of 51 wins and just one defeat, is the overwhelming favourite, having reached his seventh final for the loss of just 35 games in six rounds.

He hasn’t dropped a set and has lost serve just once.

Furthermore, Nadal came into Paris having secured claycourt titles in Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Rome, beating Djokovic in the finals of the last two in straight sets, breaking a seven-final losing streak to the Serb.

But Djokovic has won all of the last three Grand Slam title matches they have played — at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2011, and this year’s epic Australian Open which, at five hours 53 minutes, was the longest ever men’s final.

Not that Djokovic is seeing that as a factor come Sunday.

“This is a different surface, different circumstances,” said the top seed, who reached the final with a straight sets semi-final win over Roger Federer, having saved four match points in his quarter-final win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

“He always plays his best at Roland Garros, and so I expect him to do that as well on Sunday. I know that I have to be playing consistently well on a very high level in order to win best of five against Nadal.”

Djokovic is happy to be going in as underdog having lost all three matches he has played against the Spaniard in Paris in 2006, 2007 and 2008, defeats handed out without even the consolation of one set in the Serb’s possession.

“It’s the ultimate challenge. He won the last two encounters we had on clay in Monte Carlo and Rome,” said Djokovic, looking to win a sixth major on Sunday.

“But I won against him on clay last year two times, back-to-back in eight days, and that’s something that is in the back of my mind. That’s something that can give me confidence when I step on the court on Sunday.”

Djokovic also believes that if he wins, and succeeds where both Nadal and Federer failed, by holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time, then credit is due to his two main rivals.

The Serb, looking to emulate Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) by possessing all the majors, says he has learned from losing his first nine claycourt meetings with Nadal.

He also won just four of the pair’s first 18 matches on all surfaces while Federer beat him seven times in their opening nine meetings.

“I used to have a lot of doubts if I can really overcome the big challenge of the two strongest players in our sport,” he said.

“I’ve matured. I got stronger. It’s because of them. They made me a better player. This is the beauty of today’s tennis; we make each other better players and better persons on and off the court.”

Nadal, looking to capture a 11th major, believes his wins over Djokovic in Monte Carlo and Rome could be beneficial.

“I won in Rome and Monte Carlo because my tennis was better against Djokovic. Beating him gave me more confidence,” said Nadal.

But he is keen to play down any notions that he is a claycourt superman.

“I work daily; I practice daily. Each time you’re on the court, you know that you might lose. So I have to keep a low profile about it; we have to be humble.

“I’ll have to continue and practice and work and keep my focus until Sunday. So far I got off to a really good start. I’m really satisfied with what’s happened. I’m really happy about the things that life has given me so far.”

“I probably played my best match here at Roland Garros this year,” said Nadal. -Photo by AFP

PARIS: Rafael Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 on Friday to reach the French Open final where he will bid to become the first man to win seven titles at Roland Garros.

His opponent in Sunday’s championship match will be either top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia or third seed Roger Federer of Switzerland, who were playing their semi-final immediately afterwards.

Seeded second, despite winning six titles here in the last seven years, Nadal once again proved to have too much power and drive for his close friend, who was bidding to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time in what was his 37th campaign.

“I probably played my best match here at Roland Garros this year,” said Nadal.

“I am sorry for David to lose like this. He is one of my best friends on the tour and one of the best claycourters.

“It was a fantastic match for me and I am so happy to be in another final at Roland Garros.”Nadal’s straight sets victory over another Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, in the quarter-finals brought up his 50th win at Roland Garros against just the one defeat – to Swede Robin Soderling in the 2009 fourth round.

The 26-year-old Spaniard had the added motivation this year of a seventh title win at Roland Garros, which would snap a tie with Swedish legend Bjorn Borg.

It would also be his 11th Grand Slam title, putting him level with Borg and Rod Laver.
Ferrer carried into the match a 4-15 head-to-head record against Nadal, but he had defeated him twice in Grand Slams – at the 2007 US Open last 16 and at the 2011 Australian Open quarter-finals.

His only win over him on clay, however, dated back to their first encounter eight years ago when Nadal was just 17.

Ferrer opened well with a love service game and he more than held his own in the early exchanges.

The sixth seed set up the first two break points of the match in the fourth game, but the steely resolve of Nadal denied him a 3-1 lead.

The man they know as “The Bulldozer” immediately paid the price as the defending champion broke him to love.

Two games later Nadal produced another love break to take a 5-2 lead and already an all too familiar pattern had once again been set.

Nadal tucked away the set 6-2, prompting a change of shirt for Ferrer from white to pink.

But the result in the second set was much the same with Nadal at one point winning a marathon rally during which he hit one shot sitting on the court after losing his footing.

Nadal secured a third break of serve to lead 4-1 after which the heavens opened to give Ferrer some respite from the Nadal assault.

Play resumed 55 minutes later and Nadal wasted no time in going two sets up with two holds of serve.

Ferrer’s second double fault of the match opened the way for Nadal to break serve again at the start of the third set and Ferrer was left with a mountain to climb.

He never looked likely of doing that as Nadal swept into the final for the seventh time in eight years on the back of his 51st match win.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal hits a return to Spain’s Nicolas Almagro. -Photo by AFP

PARIS: Maria Sharapova is trying to break through at Roland Garros, while Rafael Nadal wants to make history there.

Neither of the players ran into much resistance in their quarterfinal matches Wednesday and now both are two wins away from finishing the job.

For second-ranked Nadal, it would be a record-setting seventh French Open title, eclipsing the mark he now shares with Bjorn Borg. Nadal still hasn’t lost a set in this year’s tournament, after a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 12-seeded Nicolas Almagro in which he saved all four break points against him and improved to 50-1 lifetime on the red clay in Paris.

“I think I played one of the best matches I can play against Rafa,” said Almagro, who has lost all eight matches against his fellow Spaniard. “But he’s the No. 1 of the world in this surface.”

Sharapova improved to 16-1 on clay this year, yet despite her recent dominance on the sport’s slowest surface, the French Open is the only major tournament she has yet to win.

No. 23 Kaia Kanepi was barely a speed bump on Sharapova’s road to completing the career Grand Slam. The second-seeded Russian defeated Kanepi 6-2, 6-3 and will play No. 4 Petra Kvitova in Thursday’s semifinals.

Kvitova defeated 142nd-ranked qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Kvitova and Sharapova will meet for the third time in the last four majors. Kvitova won their Wimbledon final; Sharapova won their Australian Open semifinal.

“When she’s confident, when she’s hitting the ball, she’s quite dangerous, so obviously it’s going to be another level,” Sharapova said.

U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur takes on first-time Grand Slam semifinalist No. 21 Sara Errani in the other women’s match. Errani has had more success as a doubles player before excelling in singles this week. She and her doubles partner, Roberta Vinci, won their semifinal match Wednesday and will play for the title.

Her quest to play in the singles final goes through Stosur, whom Errani hasn’t beaten in five tries. The last was a 6-3, 7-5 loss on clay in Rome.

“She’s an amazing player, of course,” Errani said. “She’s very strong. If I’m here, it’s because I’m playing good, so I want just to think about that and think to fight and make my best.”

The men get a day off. On Friday, Nadal will face sixth-seeded David Ferrer, who beat Andy Murray 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to advance to his first French Open semifinal.

Ferrer’s last Grand Slam semifinal was at the 2011 Australian Open, after beating Nadal in the quarterfinals. Since that match, however, Nadal has beaten Ferrer four straight times, all on clay.

“I will try and play a beautiful match, my best tennis,” Ferrer said. “I have great ambitions, and I’m quite certain this is going to be a very physical match.”

While Ferrer tries to find an answer for Nadal, Murray heads back to Britain with questions about a back problem that’s been bothering him this season. He said it was the clay – his worst surface – that bothered him against Ferrer, and not the back, but he was noncommital about his upcoming plans, including whether he was a sure thing to play at Queens, the key tuneup before Wimbledon.

“I’ll do what’s best for my preparation for Wimbledon, back or not,” Murray said. “I need to get some good physical work done. That’s going to be important. … I mean, it’s not a disaster if I can’t play a tournament beforehand.”

While Murray goes home, all three of the top men remain. In one of Friday’s semifinals, No. 3 Roger Federer will face No. 1 Novak Djokovic, with Federer in search of his 17th major title and Djokovic trying to become the first man to win four consecutive major titles since Rod Laver did it 43 years ago.

Nadal is also looking to leave his mark.

Against Almagro, he faced his toughest test so far of this tournament, though that isn’t saying much.

He needed 62 minutes to finish the first set, as Almagro pounded groundstrokes right back at Nadal, matching him game for game.

Almagro was up 5-4 and 30-15, but Nadal took the next three points, including a pair of 118 mph service winners.

They went to a tiebreaker, where Nadal pulled ahead 5-1, before dropping three points in a row. But Nadal answered with a cross-court backhand that forced an error and a service winner on set point that brought a yell of “Come On!”

This is what counts for drama in a Nadal match so far. Ferrer’s goal on Friday is to create a little more uncertainty.

“It will be tough against him,” Ferrer said, “because he’s the best player on clay in history.”