Rafael Nadal’s dominance on clay courts is to be expected. When he enters Roland Garros, his path to the title is Jordanesque, Gretzky-like, Ruthian, or whichever GOAT athletes of the last century come to mind.
Seventeen years have passed since Nadal won his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros as a teenager. The “king of clay’s” once-flowing hair may be thinning, but the French…