Rafael nadal
Nadal desperate to prove himself indoors at ATP Finals
The Spaniard, whose haul of 86 singles titles includes just one on indoor hard courts, is chasing the biggest prize missing from his resume at the eight-man...
Nadal, who claimed his 1,000th career victory by beating Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday, is bidding for a first Paris indoors triumph which would draw him level with Novak Djokovic on a record 36 Masters titles.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion, back in the French capital less than a month after winning his 13th Roland Garros title, edged out his fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
For world number one Djokovic, the defeat ended his hopes of an 18th Slam and of becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four majors twice.
Second seed Rafael Nadal, the 12-time champion, faces world number 213 Sebastian Korda whose father Petr was runner-up in 1992.
The 12-time Roland Garros champion dispatched Italian world number 74 Stefano Travaglia 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 in just 95 minutes, notching his 96th victory at the tournament.
Rafael Nadal looked in ominous form as he stepped up his pursuit of Roger Federer's 20 major titles with a crushing win over 236th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald.
Rafael nadal defeated Egor Gerasimov, the world number 83 from Belarus, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to launch his assault on a 13th French Open title, 15 years after triumphing on his debut.
Nadal, the undisputed king of clay, needs one more major to equal Roger Federer's record of 20, but the Spaniard comes to Paris short of preparation and unhappy with the French Open's choice of new balls.
World number one Novak Djokovic beat Argentine Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3 in Monday's final to win a fifth Rome title, and a record 36th Masters crown to move one better than Rafael Nadal.
The 34-year-old Spanish star also took aim at the tennis schedule.
The US Open will run from August 31 to September 13 on the hard courts of New York with the rescheduled French Open on clay taking place just a fortnight after.
World number two Rafael Nadal, who captured a fourth US Open and 19th major in New York last year, said the coronavirus pandemic still casts huge doubts over the tennis calendar which has been suspended since mid-March.
Men’s world No. 1 Djokovic posted black screenshots on his Twitter and Instagram pages with the message 'Black Lives Matter', and was joined by Federer and Nadal, the other members of the 'Big Three' of men’s tennis.
The pandemic has led to the cancellation of Wimbledon and the postponement of the French Open to September, while the status of the U.S. Open, scheduled to take place as usual in late August, is still unclear.
As the coronavirus has sent the tennis season into hibernation until July 13 at the earliest, a host of players have recently taken to social media for face-to-face exchanges.
With professional tennis tours closed down until mid July at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic, an esports version of the claycourt event is being staged online.
The Spanish government has extended the country's state of alarm until May 9, with the entire population confined to their homes except a small number working in specific sectors, leaving Nadal perplexed as to why he can't train.
He said players, the ATP and the four Grand Slams "would all get together and will contribute to a player relief fund that ATP will distribute."