Cassius of clay Nadal uses dirtball skills to reclaim No 1

Rafael Nadal returned to the world No 1 ranking yesterday using the same method he has always employed — effort.

Rafael Nadal celebrates winning the Italian Open in Rome. Picture: AFP.

I walked around a corner at Roland Garros and bumped into a short and sturdy bloke who apologised and shook hands with the enthusiasm of Manuel in Fawlty Towers. It was Toni Nadal in one of his high-spirited, talkative moods. I told him I worked for The Australian newspaper. He grinned, “There is more than one!” I asked him for a quick interview about his nephew. He said that would be OK.

Boring questions from me. How’s Rafa going? Rafa was going good. How’s his body? Going good. How’s his knee? Good. Elbow? Good. Motivation? Good. Hair? Not so good. I mentioned that nobody tried harder than the Cassius of clay.

That’s when Uncle Toni got interested. That’s when he gave his lecture. He said a problem with the world today was that nobody thought their jobs were important enough to give it their all. He pointed at a door attendant who, like everyone else at Roland Garros, looked like she had fallen straight out of the pages of Elle magazine.

Rafael Nadal

French Open: Men to watch

The King of Clay will once again start an odds-on favourite to land a mind-boggling 11th title in Paris having dominated on the dirt in record-setting fashion in 2018.

Alexander Zverev

French Open: Men to watch

As the only active player besides Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray boasting at least three Masters crowns, the German’s talent and potential is unquestioned but he’s yet to progress to a grand slam quarter-final.

Marin Cilic

French Open: Men to watch

The big-hitting Croat has emerged a perennial grand slam threat with appearances in the Wimbledon and Australian Open finals in the past 12 months, proving his 2014 Flushing Meadows triumph as anything but a fluke.

Juan Martin del Potro

French Open: Men to watch

The injury-prone Argentine is enjoying his best ranking in almost a decade and can’t be ignored having been a set away from the Roland Garros final once before.

Dominic Thiem

French Open: Men to watch

The Austrian enforcer proved himself the real deal on dirt with a streak-busting win over Nadal in Madrid a fortnight ago and will take a power of stopping.

Novak Djokovic

French Open: Men to watch

The Serbian superstar has been a shadow of the player who held all four grand slam titles simultaneously two years ago but finally showed signs of life with a run to the Italian Open semi-finals.

Outsider: David Goffin

French Open: Men to watch

The Belgian Davis Cup hero is on his favoured surface after joining an exclusive club of players to conquer Nadal and Federer at the same event en route to last year’s season-ending championship final.

Outsider: Stefanos Tsitsipas

French Open: Men to watch

The Greek teenage sensation almost snatched a seeding after rocketing from outside the top 200 this time last year with a series of head-turning performances on clay this season.

Aussie hope: Alex de Minaur

French Open: Men to watch

A deserving recipient of Australia’s reciprocal wildcard after almost earning direct entry through his career-high ranking. Tipped by the great Ken Rosewall as a future grand slam champion.

Uncle Toni said she had come to the courts to do a job. Rafa had also come to do a job. Why, he asked, should those two people not put the same effort into those jobs? He narrowed his eyes at me. Are you ready for the French Open? Are you prepared? Have you done your research? Do you know your history? You say that Rafa works hard. Do you work as hard at the French Open as Rafa? If not, why not?

Uncle Toni said the people who slept best at night were those who had tried their hardest during the day. The sincerity of effort. It wasn’t about winning and losing. Both would happen. It was about the commitment. As a by-product, it most often led to a win.

Nadal returned to the world No 1 ranking yesterday when he beat Alexander Zverev 6-1 1-6 6-3 in a compelling final of the Italian Open. His on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again spot at the top of the rankings was on again as Roger Federer skipped the entire clay court season.

The proof that dirtball is the toughest tennis of all? It’s the only form that Federer’s body can no longer handle. It was yet another victory, and yet another honour, that Nadal achieved primarily from trying so bloody hard.

“The main thing is win Rome,” Rafael Nadal said. “Not come back to No 1. To have the title here is the personal feeling and personal satisfaction.

“If I tell you my real feelings before coming here, I came here to try to win a very important title. But if I am back to No 1, it is great. Better than to be No 2.”

Zverev held his own but not the title he won by beating Novak Djokovic on Campo Centrale last year. Nadal now has more Italian titles than Elizabeth Taylor had husbands before his tilt at an 11th French Open crown next week. Zverev will be the No 2 seed in Federer’s absence while carrying a curiously poor record at the slams for a world No 3. He’s played 11 majors for three first and second-round defeats, four third-round losses and just the one fourth-round appearance.

Asked how he planned to start reaching the business end of the most important, best-of-five-set tournaments, Zverev replied: “I will try to play the same way over a longer period of time. But I don’t even want to think about tennis for the next few days, then I will go to Paris where Rafa will be the favourite, no doubt about it.”

Nadal sounded offended on Zverev’s behalf when the German’s poor majors record was mentioned. Bristling, he said, “Tennis is tennis. Best of three, best of five. Five sets is best for the best players, and Sacha is one of the best players.”

Uncle Toni no longer travels fulltime with his nephew. The reins have been passed to Carlos Moya. But nothing’s changed too much. Nobody trains harder. Nobody plays harder.

Uncle Toni drilled the right message into him when he was a kid. Take nothing for granted. Tired? Keep trying. Out of form? Keep trying. Injured? Keep trying to make it back.

When Nadal won a junior Spanish title, his parents threw him a party at home. Uncle Toni arrived, took down the “Congratulations Rafa” banner and produced a list of former Spanish junior champions who had amounted to nothing.

He told Nadal to get to bed and be ready for training the next morning. The 12-year-old Nadal would have slept well back then. He would have rested just as peacefully in Rome on Sunday night. Winning was only part of the equation. He’d produced another sincerity of effort.