Rafael Nadal has won the French Open Tennis Championship for the 11th time. He achieved that feat on Sunday afternoon in Paris when he beat Austrian, Dominic Thiem, in three straight sets of 6-4 6-3 6-2.
During the two week Grand Slam, Nadal had to call on the elements to survive the dogged resistance of Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinal in which he dropped his first set of the tournament.
There was the need for the doctor and the physiotherapist in the sixth game of the third set when Nadal felt tightness in his left arm. That did not stop him from taking the sixth game after some treatment.
The eighth game was a nervous one and see-saw battle as Thiem battled to stay in the match and Nadal needed Thiem to strike long to take the set 6-2. The king of clay had triumphed once more – this time against the anointed prince.
It is now 17 Grand Slam titles for the native Mallorcan and he broke the $100 million prize money barrier with the $2.6 million prize money – third behind Federer and Novak Djokovic on the list.
