wNobody Dominated so much anywhere like Rafa Nadal in Paris
In the comparison, there appear giants, legends that took over tournaments, championships, tests, specialties, but in the end they all succumb. In tennis, Roger Federer won Wimbledon eight times and Martina Navratilova nine. In golf, Jack Nicklaus celebrated in Augusta up to six times. In Formula 1, Michael Schumacher was eight years king of Magny Cours and in MotoGP, Giacomo Agostini, ten of Imatra. In swimming, Michael Phelps hung eight golds between Games and World Cups in the 200 meters butterfly, and in athletics Usain Bolt reached seven in the 200 meters. In gymnastics, Larisa LatyninaHe chained four successes on the ground. In skiing, Marcel Hirscher wears six Glass Globes in slalom …
In short, like Rafa Nadal at Roland Garros, nobody. In any discipline there was a champion, male or female, with 12 victories, in the same event, or even in several joined to achieve an annual cadence. His dominion is as historical as incomprehensible under the properties of sport, so ephemeral, so volatile. So much that, beyond tennis reasons, it deserves reflection. Those who lived similar situations grouped reasons, although they change a lot depending on the point of view.
From the perspective of the dominator, Agostini, points out a reason: Nadal comes from the cradle. “Such a success, so continuous, so great, is a gift that God gives you, it is something innate, it can not be explained in any other way, I faced all the circuits equally, I worked the same all year, I piloted the same, but in Imatra the victories came to me in a natural way, it cost me less.It was a gift.Then, in addition, it was an urban layout that was very similar to the roads in which I grew up in Italy and that gave me an advantage. the same thing: he has a unique talent in history to play on clay, at Roland Garros, and he also learned how to play as a child on that surface, for me, he is one of the greats in the history of sports and, moreover, I have coincided with him, a very polite, very kind boy, “he explains.
From the perspective of the dominated, Juan del Campo , the best Spanish skier, who observes Hirscher from the distance of the second difference, exposes another reason: work. “To win so much, you have to be a perfectionist.” In addition to having a lot of instinct, Hirscher is the most professional of the circuit by far: all he does is work, Nadal is the same, and in order to be where he is, he has had to return several times. lesions, of grayer times, something that multiplies its merit by 1.000.In the end, those who compete against these geniuses can only have them as a reference, as a model to surpass ourselves.In the World Cup people do not only seek to win the career, seeks to win Hirscher, which is already a great feat, “says the Olympic skier.
Whether natural, acquired or both, both ex-athletes highlight the strangeness of Nadal’s tyranny in Paris and repeat a phrase: “It’s outrageous, something unique.” A certainty Even in the first few years of some events or in sports restricted to certain countries, there has not been an equalized streak. In figure skating, for example, Ulrich Salchow took over the World Cup at the beginning of the 20th century while creating movements that still maintain his name, but he stayed in 10 titles. In squash, another example, Pakistani Jahangir Khan was unbeaten for five years, raised the level of a discipline locked in the Commonwealth, but did not go beyond the ten wins at the British Open.
The 12 celebrations of Nadal in Paris are, at the moment, at the most to overcome, in the long term it is not imagined by whom, in the short term by himself. At 33, he could continue to take over the French land while his successes in other places are up to par. His 11 titles in Monte Carlo or Barcelona or his nine in Rome are also achievements that find very few similarities. The scope of such an extraordinary domain will last for centuries.
Originally published at https://zaviewsport.blogspot.com.
