Rafael Nadal on Thursday withdrew from the French Open and announced that 2024 will likely be his last season in tennis after a career which has brought him 22 Grand Slam titles. AFP Sport recalls six of the Spaniard’s greatest Slam finals:
2005 French Open Nadal bt Mariano Puerta 6-7 (7/6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5. The one that started it all. Nadal came in as an 18-year-old left-hander on the rise, with a huge top-spin forehand and expectations to match.
He won all three clay-court lead-up tournaments, in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome and there was a buzz growing around Nadal as he took to court in a sleeveless shirt, prowling like a young matador. He blasted through the draw taking out Richard Gasquet, Sebastien Grosjean and David Ferrer.
But the real test came in the semi-final against world number one Roger Federer. The pair had never met on clay. It was Nadal’s 19th birthday and he won 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Little-known Puerta of Argentina, ranked 37, was dispatched in a four-set final and Nadal would not lose another match on the Paris clay until 2009.
2008 Wimbledon
Nadal bt Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7/5), 6-7 (10/8), 9-7
— A match that is widely remembered as one of the greatest tennis matches of all time, it went to Nadal after an incredible four hours, 48 minutes of action.
Scheduled for a 2pm start, the final began late because of rain, had two more rain delays, and ended in light so bad that the Hawk-Eye line-calling system had ceased to work.
Federer clawed back a two-set deficit and saved two match points in the fourth set to take it the distance.
The sheer quality of tennis was like nothing seen before until Federer finally erred, finding the net at 9:21 pm to hand Nadal, who fell on his back onto the grass in relief, his first Wimbledon triumph.
— Nadal again came out on top against Federer, this time in a five-set, four-and-a-half-hour thriller.
Nadal’s incredible feat of recovery and stamina delayed Federer from tying Pete Sampras’s then record of 14 Grand Slam titles, and also gave Nadal his first Australian Open
Nadal lost to Djokovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5. One of four Australian Open final defeats for Nadal, but a true epic that will be forever etched in the memory.
The match was the ultimate test of endurance and skill as it unfolded over five hours and 53 minutes of tennis of the highest quality between the world number one Djokovic and second-ranked Nadal.
Source: eNCA
In other news – Zandile Khumalo continues with her testimony in Senzo Meyiwa’s murder trial
Zandile Khumalo will continue testifying in the trial of five men accused of the murder of soccer star, Senzo Meyiwa on Friday in the High Court in Pretoria.
Five men are on trial for the murder of the Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates star. Meyiwa was shot at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s home in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, eight years ago. Khumalo is the sister of Meyiwa’s then-girlfriend Kelly Khumalo and was also in her mother’s house in Voslorus when Meyiwa was shot in 2014. Learn more
