Leconte: Nobody can stop Nadal at Roland Garros

The video of Dominic Thiem’s surprise win over Rafael Nadal last week in Rome will be in high demand for those harbouring hopes of stopping the Spaniard’s march towards a 10th French Open crown next week.

It will be about their only crumb of comfort because the 30-year-old, apart from that blip at the Foro Italico, has looked back to his invincible best on the red dust as he seeks to regain the crown he lost two years ago.

Watching Nadal rack up 17 consecutive victories during which he swept through Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid was like turning the clock back a decade when to challenge him on a claycourt was an act of folly.

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Until he faced the stylish young Austrian Thiem, whom he had dispatched with ease the week before in the Madrid final, Nadal had dropped only two sets during the European claycourt swing.

In Madrid he trounced Nick Kyrgios, David Goffin and French Open champion Novak Djokovic on his way to a record-extending 52nd title on his favoured clay.

No wonder it is hard to find anyone not backing him to claim ‘La Decima’ in Paris.

“I think the only player you can really believe will win the French Open is Rafa,” Henri Leconte, the last Frenchman to reach the final in 1988, told Reuters.

“I was with Boris Becker in Monte Carlo watching him beat David Goffin and it was amazing.

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“Nobody could withstand the way he was playing. And I don’t think we need to consider the Rome defeat because he needed to relax a little for the French.”

World No.7 Thiem showed the blueprint for beating Nadal with a brilliant two-set performance, red-lining throughout a contest that saw him crunch one of his trademark singe-handed backhands at 100mph.

Leconte, however, says the French Open represents an entirely different challenge.

“Can anyone play like that for four, five, six hours?” he said. “That’s the challenge. It’s formidable.”