Greg Rusedski: Is Rafael Nadal's supreme dominance done on clay?
Former world No. 4 Greg Rusedski has suggested this clay season might be more open than the past two after Rafael Nadal's shaky start to his 2019 clay-court campaign.
Nadal, an 11-time French Open champion, started his clay campaign with back-to-back semi-final exits at the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona respectively.
The Spaniard picked up a straight-set defeat against Fabio Fognini in Monte Carlo before he was handed a straight-set loss by Dominic Thiem in Barcelona.
World No. 2 Nadal absolutely dominated the past two clay seasons, having won eight out of the 10 tournaments he played.
Thiem was the only player who managed to beat Nadal on clay in 2017 and 2018 as he beat the Spaniard at the Rome Masters two years ago and Madrid Masters last year respectively.
"The King of clay Rafa loses two weeks in a row in the semifinals. Is his supreme dominance done on this surface? He has talked about how tough it has been physically and mentally with all his injuries. Does he still go in as favourite for the French (Open)? Always a legend," Rusedski tweeted following Nadal's Barcelona semi-final loss.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2vrCrWU
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