By Chris Oddo | Sunday May 20, 2018
Out of the rain, into the driver’s seat.
Rafael Nadal braved a belligerent Alexander Zverev and a 50-minute rain delay en route to a record eighth title at the Foro Italico in Rome on Sunday. The Spaniard reeled off the final five games of the match to earn a hotly contested 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 decision, which means he’ll climb back atop the ATP rankings on Monday and head to Paris as the odds-on favorite to claim an 11th title on the terre battue at Roland Garros.
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Though he finished with an exclamation point there may be a few questions asked about the form of Nadal in this final, one in which he let his decisive momentum slip and struggled with form for a set and a half before coming out of the locker room like a house on fire to claim his 56th career clay-court title and 78 overall.
But full credit must be given to Zverev. The German came in riding a 13-match winning streak and he didn’t cow after he was blitzed in the first set by Nadal. Zverev, who has made a habit out of quick and easy service holds, couldn’t manage a single hold in the opener, but he responded quickly with his first hold of the match in set two and promptly broke for 2-0.
Zverev didn’t stop there. He won a marathon game, breaking for 4-0, then held to move one game from becoming just the fourth player in history to hand Nadal a bagel set on clay.
Nadal did manage to hold before dropping the set, but in the third it was Zverev who drew first blood and moved ahead 3-1 and seemed to be closing in on what would have been a shocking and momentous title for the German.
The rains came with Nadal serving at 3-1, and after a short delay the Spaniard held for 3-2 before the rains came again and the court had to be covered.
50 minutes later a determined Nadal emerged from the tunnel, took his spot on the baseline and proceeded with his imminent march to victory. He was near perfect from the first ball, and though Zverev pushed and prodded, Nadal would not relent. He leaped and crushed a no-look forehand smash while serving at 3-3—a jaw-dropping reminder that he was here to claim the title and nothing less would suffice.
“When it happened, delay, the rain delay, I didn’t feel in that moment that it would help me,” Nadal said after the match. “But really, in my opinion, what helped me is that I came back with a clear idea in terms of tactical issues and in terms of decisions that I take after that break.”
Zverev certainly didn't back away when play resumed, but the dynamic had clearly shifted in Nadal's favor nonetheless. Resting and cooling off in the locker room while perched so perilously close to victory might have been his undoing--we'll never know. But know this: Despite his well-documented failures at the Grand Slam level at this stage of his career, the German has emerged as one of perhaps three players with even a smidgen of a chance to defeat Nadal on clay in Paris. The loss may sting but his brilliant run through the month of May will likey prove to be yet another step towards greatness for this rising force.
"If he’s not playing well in Grand Slams in the next two years, you can come back to me and tell me ‘You don’t know anything about tennis,’” Nadal told reporters after the match. “I believe it’s going to be a different story. That’s my feeling: Tennis is tennis. Doesn’t matter best-of-three, best-of-five; and playing best-of-five is a bigger advantage for the best players, and Sascha is one of the best players, so it’s a big advantage for him, too.”
With Zverev serving at 3-4 in set three, Nadal cracked a leaping smash to earn a break point and converted for a 5-3 lead on the next point when he forced Zverev into lobbing him long at the end of a dynamic baseline rally.
A minute later Nadal cracked a menacing forehand winner to earn his first match point, which Zverev saved. But the 21-year-old would only be delaying the inevitable on this day. Nadal finished affairs at the 2:09 mark when he angled a perfect backhand volley winner that not even the valiant Zverev could run down.
“He came out way faster and played much more aggressive than I did,” Zverev said, when explaining his difficulties after the rain delay. “And the fatigue I had over the last—because of over the last few weeks, because of the break, it took me a very long time to get activated again and to get going. Obviously it wasn’t enough time.”
Nadal improves to 23-2 on the season and 19-1 on the clay. He will begin his 174th week at No.1 on Monday.
He also passed Roger Federer on the all-time Masters 1000 win list this week (357 to 355) and earned his record 32nd Masters 1000 title. The milestones keep piling up, as do the accolades.
If there were questions about the way that Zverev was able to turn the match and come dangerously close to knocking off Nadal in this final, most of them were erased by the time the 31-year-old Spaniard held the trophy aloft.
Any that remain will have to be answered in the coming weeks in Paris, where Nadal will look to continue his reign on the terre battue.