ESPN 2008 French Open

Updated: May 23, 2008, 11:59 AM ET

Unblemished Nadal aiming to build on historical French run

Wax all you want about Rafael Nadal's patience, perseverance and moxie. With a perfect 21-0 record at the French Open and the pursuit of a fourth straight championship approaching, we're witnessing a feat that may never again be duplicated.

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By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
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AP Photo/Michel SpinglerNo one has come close to matching Rafael Nadal's strength in mind or body on clay courts.

History hangs in the spring air at Roland Garros, heavier than the pollen drifting from the trees populating the adjacent park, Bois de Boulogne.

Walk through the iron gates and across the gray cobblestones, and you can feel it. Head toward charming Court 1, the original stadium court, and you can actually see it: the worn stone replica of the Davis Cup trophy that the French Musketeers -- Rene Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon -- brought back from America in 1927.

A tribute to this magnificent feat was called for, so the Stade Francais club donated seven acres of land in the southwest corner of Paris to the French Tennis Federation. The glorious result was Roland Garros, named for the aviation pioneer, the first man to fly across the Mediterranean. Since 1925, when the federation opened the French Open championships to athletes of all nations, only one player, Bjorn Borg (1978-81), has managed to win four straight titles.

On the first weekend in June, a second player could join him in that uberexclusive club: Rafael Nadal.

He grew up in Spain, where clay is the only surface of consequence. Unlike grass and hard-court surfaces that can change drastically from venue to venue, year to year, clay is eternal. At Roland Garros, a timeless place, Nadal reigns on a stage of living, breathing earth.

Chris Evert, who won seven French Open titles from 1974 to '86, says that Nadal approaches this Grand Slam with a greater sense of urgency than the others.

"The best chance [he has] for a Grand Slam is the French Open," Evert said. "Any other Grand Slam [he wins]," Evert said, "it's great, it's a bonus.

"Nadal, this is his baby."

In a demanding and turbulent world, clay is his refuge. He is undeniably the best pure clay-court player of his generation and, perhaps, in all of history. Roland Garros, in particular, is where there always seems to be enough time and space to prevail, a place where patience and perseverance, guts and guile, remain virtues.

Nadal, who turns 22 on June 3, owns Roland Garros.

His record at Roland Garros is a scintillating 21-0; Nadal has never even been extended to a fifth set. All three of his Grand Slam titles have come at the French Open. On clay for his career, Nadal has won 145 of 159 matches, an amazing percentage of .912.

Evert believes this potential achievement comes with a greater degree of difficulty than the time of Borg.

"I think it's harder than it used to be because there's more competition now," she said. "It's interesting when people look at me and say, 'Well, you won 18 Grand Slams.' And I say, 'Yeah, I did,' but I didn't have people coming out of countries like Croatia, China. I mean, the players are coming out of the woodwork now. There's more depth, there's more competition.

"I think it is harder to win a Grand Slam or win consecutive Grand Slams, absolutely."

Less than two weeks before this year's French Open, Justine Henin abruptly announced her retirement. She said she was physically and emotionally beaten after five years at the top of women's tennis. She, too, had been in position for the rare four-peat.

Henin's stunning absence at Roland Garros underlines the difficulty of Nadal's task.

Born to be the best

Dinner, in the swirling vortex that is Rome, beckoned. Still, Alex Corretja had a few moments earlier this month to talk about his gifted countryman.

"Heavy, high topspin, great footwork, power, stamina," Corretja said, cataloguing Nadal's physical gifts. "And, because he's a lefty, he bothers opponents even more."

Corretja won 17 ATP titles, including the Italian Open in 1997, and is now part of Andy Murray's coaching team. Corretja reached the final at Roland Garros twice, losing to Carlos Moya in 1998 and Gustavo Kuerten in 2001.

Nadal's greatest weapon, according to Corretja? His mind.

"He has the mental power," Corretja said. "He believes he was born to be the best. He doesn't think he can ever lose."

Rafa will play the calendar the way it is and prove again that he is the best.

-- Alex Corretja

On clay, it is very nearly true. In a span of more than three years, Nadal lost a single match on clay. One.

Between a straight-sets loss to Igor Andreev in early April 2005 at Valencia, Spain, and a 7-5, 6-1 second-round defeat by Juan Carlos Ferrero earlier this month in Rome, Nadal won 103 of 104 matches on dirt. The exception: a three-set loss to Roger Federer in the 2007 final at Hamburg. Nadal returned the favor last week, defeating Federer in a three-set final.

Nadal's success, coupled with a stubbornness in playing a demanding schedule that included the relatively minor tournament in Barcelona and a doubles victory in Monte Carlo, makes winning this French Open a more challenging task. His grinding style and the forgiveness of clay that makes for longer points, games and matches exacerbate the situation.

Last year, Nadal won titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Roland Garros and reached the Hamburg final, playing a herculean total of 27 matches (comprising 64 sets) in 57 days. This year, to delay Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami so they wouldn't compete with the NCAA basketball tournament for television viewers, the ATP compressed an eight-week spring clay season into seven weeks.

"We only have three Masters Series on clay during all the season, and we have three Masters series in four weeks," Nadal said in Miami. "We can't have the calendar thinking about college basketball, no? So we are 100 percent disappointed by this decision of the ATP. The European players are very angry about these decisions."

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Jacques Demarthon/AFP/Getty ImagesRafael Nadal is looking to join Bjorn Borg as the only players to win four straight French Open crowns since 1925.

If Nadal had enjoyed success similar to that of 2007, he would be looking at five tournaments and 25-plus matches in a 50-day window. Even the resilient Spaniard wasn't able to rise above that potential obstacle. He won again at Monte Carlo, beating Federer in the straight-sets final, and a week later in Barcelona. But facing three tournaments in three weeks, something had to give -- and it was the skin on Nadal's right foot. A gruesome blister was the deciding factor in his loss to Ferrero, but it gave him a week off and the prospect of two weeks of mere practice in a stretch of three leading into Roland Garros.

"That they played Rome and Hamburg back to back, that's just ridiculous," Corretja said. "Rafa will play the calendar the way it is and prove again that he is the best.

"If he wins four in a row, that's a very difficult thing to do. What he's doing on clay is amazing. We may never see something like this again from the people who are alive now.

Corretja paused and laughed.

"Except, Rafa, maybe," he said. "He is young. Maybe Rafa can do it again."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.