It is a remarkable achievement from the greatest clay court tennis player the world has ever seen. Rafael Nadal won his tenth Monte Carlo Masters title at the weekend, becoming the first man to win ten times at a single event. In the process, he won his 50th clay court tournament, moving him ahead of Guillermo Villas (49) to become the undisputed King of Clay.
Given Rafa’s remarkable achievements, we thought we should pull together a bit of a gallery celebrating ten years of Nadal dominating the red dirt of Monte Carlo.
RELATED: Rafa Nadal wins 10th Monte Carlo title
2005: An 18-year-old Rafael Nadal wins his first Monte Carlo title – and first ATP Masters title – beating Guillermo Coria 6-3 6-1 0-6 7-5 in the final.
2006: Rafa would dominate Roger Federer in their first meeting at Monte Carlo, winning 6–2 6–7(2) 6–3 7–6(5).
2007: A re-run of the 2006 final saw things go the same way, with Rafa take a 6-4 6-4 win over Roger Federer.
2008: The third – and final – time that Rafa would play Roger in a Monte Carlo final once again went the way of the Spaniard, who recorded a 7-5 7-5 win.
2009: In their first meeting at the principality, Rafa beat a determined Novak Djokovic 6-3 2-6 6-1 to win his fifth straight Monte Carlo title.
2010: Spanish compatriot Fernando Verdasco was unable to put up much of a challenge against Rafa, who dismissed him 6-1 6-0.
2011: It was another all-Spanish affair in 2011, with David Ferrer being swept off the court by Nadal 6-4 7-5.
2012: Winning his eighth-straight Monte Carlo title, Nadal brushed aside Novak Djokovic once again, beating him 6-3 6-1. The Serb would get his own back the following year, and put a stop to Nadal’s dominance in the principality.
2016: After three years without a trophy in Monte Carlo, Rafa once again secured the title with a 7-5 5-7 6-0 win over in-form Frenchman Gael Monfils.
2017: Title number ten. Rafa swept aside all before him (including Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final) to claim a remarkable tenth Monte Carlo title – an Open Era record at a single event.
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