Rafael Nadal’s French Open triumphs: Then and Now

Tennis

Only two men had won more than 10 Grand Slam titles in the Open Era: Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras, since 1969, a total period of 36 years. Since then, three men have breached the 10-Slam barrier, with 2 of them breaching the 15-Slam barrier (first two ever), and one of them, an age-defying wonder having breached the 20-Slam barrier. And yes, Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (17) and Novak Djokovic (12) and still very much active. Again, only two men (Rod Laver and Andre Agassi) had completed the Career Grand Slam in the Open Era, when Nadal won his first French Open in 2005. All three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are now part of that illustrious list.

Since computerized rankings began in women’s singles tennis in 1975, the WTA had had 15 World number 1’s till 2005, a period of 30 years. The next 13 years has already seen 14 women become number 1 in the world (some of them had first achieved that feat before 2005, but have been number 1 at some point after 2005 nonetheless).