Maybe they should force him to play with his non-dominant hand, just to make it fair.
In the case of Rafael “King of Clay” Nadal, that would mean holding the racquet in his right hand for forehand shots, although the Spaniard does use two hands for his backhand side.
Hidden up Nadal’s sleeve, however, is that he was born right-handed, so in all probability, he could make the switch and hardly skip a beat.
As for the 2017 French Open at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, Nadal has not skipped any beats. He is through to the quarterfinals of the tournament, returning from birthday celebrations to mark his 31st year by beating his countryman Roberto Bautista in straight sets, losing just five games for the entire match.
At stake for Nadal’s next match is a slot in the semifinals, where he will face yet another Spaniard in Pablo Carreno Busta.
Nadal has played four matches in the 2017 French Open, the second of the four Majors of professional tennis. To this point, he has dropped only 20 games to his four opponents.
Whilst losing only 20 games through four rounds sounds impressive, when he won the French Open in 2012, he lost only 19 games for the entire tournament.
For non-Spaniard Novak Djokovic, in order to advance to the quarterfinals, he had to beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas of, wait for it, Spain.
As for Aussie hopes in the tournament, they were extinguished when Samantha Stosur lost in three sets to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Just 19 years of age, beating Stosur was a big step for the Riga resident. This is the first time she has ever gotten to the quarterfinals in one of professional tennis’ slam events. She beat Stosur in three sets, surrendering the first set 2 – 6, before rallying to win the second 6 – 2 and the third 6 – 4.
