Nadal Downplays La Decima At Roland Garros

Rafael Nadal is one victory away from a historic 10^th Roland Garros title, but he’s more focused on Sunday’s championship battle against Stan Wawrinka than any of the statistics or implications accompanying it.

The Spaniard put in a flawless performance on Friday, dropping just seven games against Dominic Thiem in their semi-final to set up the match against Wawrinka. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 15-3 and has won five of their six meetings on clay.

However, the Swiss star’s victories against Nadal have come in some of their most important matches. Nadal lost his most recent Grand Slam match against Wawrinka in the 2014 Australian Open final, but the nine-time Roland Garros champion said it won’t be on his mind when they face off again.

“Revenge is not part of my vocabulary. I don’t think it would be the right thing to see this match as revenge. In my mind, each match is different and important,” said Nadal. ”He played very well in that Australian Open. If I hadn’t been injured, I don’t know what the outcome would have been. But he had been playing very well before that already. He has demonstrated that during important matches, he’s always up for the challenge.

“Stan won the last event in Geneva and now he’s in the final here. He’s on a good run, so it’s the toughest opponent possible,” he added. “He will be full of confidence for Sunday. I need to play aggressively and not let him play from easy positions or I’m going to be in big trouble.”

? La Decima se rapproche pour @RafaelNadal, tombeur de Thiem et à un match de soulever le Trophée des Mousquetaires pour la 10e fois ! #RG17 pic.twitter.com/T0axvyA21v

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2017

Even by Nadal’s lofty standards at Roland Garros, his run this fortnight has shown a level of dominance that’s almost unmatched. He has lost just 29 games in six matches, the second-fewest number of games lost en route to a Slam final in the Open Era since all matches were played as best-of-five sets. Bjorn Borg holds the record with 27 games (1978 Roland Garros).

But while some fans have been counting the number of games lost or bagel sets he’s dished out, Nadal said his only concern is seeing his name inch further along in the draw.

“I don’t care about the games I lost or sets or these kinds of things. The only thing I care about is that I have been playing very well during the whole event and I was able to win all my matches. That’s the only thing that really matters,” said Nadal. “I’m very pleased with everything that’s happened since the first day that I arrived here. Being in the final is always going to be a very positive result for me.”

Nadal is now one of three men to make 10 appearances in the final of one Grand Slam event, joining Bill Tilden (US Open) and Roger Federer (Wimbledon). A win on Sunday would make him the first man and only the second player in tennis history (Margaret Court) to win 10 titles at a Grand Slam event.

But the always modest and humble champion said completing La Decima in Paris wouldn’t change anything about him, even his favourite number.

“It’s true that 10 is a beautiful number, but nine is my favourite,” said Nadal. “But don’t get me wrong. I would prefer 10 over nine, no doubt.”