The Spanish Rafael Nadal conquered the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 for the tenth time and became the tennis player with the most titles on clay after exhibiting against his compatriot Albert Ramos in two sets 6-1 and 6-3.
With 50 trophies on clay, the 30-year-old Mallorcan beat Argentine Guillermo Vilas.
In Barcelona, Nadal will also seek to be crowned next week ten times as at Roland Garros, which will be held between May 28 and June 11.
Since 1968, when tennis became professional, no one had won the same trophy 10 times, not even the Swiss Roger Federer with his 18 great titles.
The premature elimination of Briton Andy Murray (N.1), Serbian Novak Djokovic (N.2) and Swiss Stan Wawrinka (N.3) facilitated the task of keeping his crown in the Principality.
His link with Monte Carlo was born in 2003 when Nadal was only 16 years old. “I had reached the third round coming out of the rankings… I never thought I would make it to this point then. Thank you very much for everything you have done for me, “he said.
– No suspense –
Nadal only lost one final to Djokovic in 2013, when he was coming off winning eight times in a row between 2005 and 2012.
The day after his duel against the Belgian David Goffin (6-3, 6-1), marred by a referee error, the Manacori was intractable on the track, causing the suspense to repeat an interesting Spanish final, such as that of Nadal against David Ferrer in 2011, disappeared.
The former world number 1, currently seventh, left Ramos, who was playing his first Masters 1000 final, without options.
The 29-year-old Catalan, who also plays with the left like Nadal, could not reproduce the game shown throughout the competition, as he did in his victories against Murray in the round of 16 and Croatian Marin Cilic (No. 8) in the quarterfinals.
“This is one of the most beautiful tournaments on the ATP. Last Monday, I was not thinking of playing the final against one of the greats in history, “said Ramos, number 24 in the world.
– Impossible angles –
Dominated by the Mallorcan’s famous forehand, the surprise guest of this final tried to come back in the second round, but gave up in the fifth game (3-2).
Ramos reduced the difference by achieving a blank game and even went so far as to unsettle Nadal in his service, putting himself 30-0 in his favor. But, the Mallorcan regained control of the ball, placing his shots at angles impossible for his rival to reach and thus relaxing on his way to the “Tenth”.
Ramos lifted two match points from Nadal, but ultimately double-faulted, which elevated the Manacorí to his 70th career title, the first of the year after lost finals at the Australian Open, Acapulco and Miami.
“It was a little better in all respects. I couldn’t serve well. On the other hand, he did it very well, “said the man from Mataró.
“The plan was to put pressure on the rest, but he was too good at serving. He didn’t play his best tennis, but he really did it at a high level, ”Ramos continued. AFP