World number one Rafael Nadal stitched up a straightforward 6-1 6-3 6-1 victory over Lleyton Hewitt on Friday to keep on track his bid for a record fifth consecutive Paris Open crown.
Rafa Nadal's worst defeat on a claycourt for nine years offered ammunition to the naysayers but the Spaniard says his recovery from knee injury should be judged over time.
World number two Roger Federer believes his form is improving all the time and that he still has what it takes to rattle number one Rafael Nadal and steal the Spaniard's French Open crown. The Swiss 13-times Grand Slam winner has yet to win a title this year and has lost in semi-finals twice to Novak Djokovic and twice to Andy Murray as well as falling to Nadal in the Australian Open final.
The aura Rafael Nadal usually carries on court may take a while to return when the Spaniard finally begins his comeback in Chile this week, according to world number three Andy Murray.
American ace Andy Roddick, ranked sixth, believes Spaniard Nadal's reputation as a powerful baseline player camouflages his improved skills around the court.
Rafael Nadal survived an early scare at the Barcelona Open on Friday to beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-2 for a place in the semi-finals.
Australian Open champion Rafa Nadal said he would love to finish his career with more Grand Slam titles than rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic but thinks he will have to secure more than 21 to do so.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer believes that Rafael Nadal is still the favourite to win the French Open next month despite the Spaniard's recent struggles to regain form.
Defending champion Rafa Nadal began his Italian Open campaign with an emphatic 6-3 6-1 victory over big-serving American John Isner to move into the last-16 on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal crushed all in his path as he bulldozed through the claycourt season but only a full-tilt Wimbledon challenge next week will provide unequivocal proof that the Spaniard is back at the peak of his powers.
A summary of Thursday's action at the US Open.
Roger Federer defeated Italy's Daniele Bracciali 7-5, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals at the Dubai Open.
Images from the US Open final played at Flushing Meadows on Sunday
'I am playing tennis because I love to play tennis'
World number one Rafael Nadal crushed Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 6-2 to ease into the Barcelona Open semi-finals on Friday.
The Swiss world number one is only the second man after Bjorn Borg to capture five Wimbledon titles in a row since tennis turned professional.
Nadal has won the Australian and the French Open back-to-back and has the chance to become the first man to win all four majors in the same year
German seventh seed Alexander Zverev recovered from a slow start to beat former champion Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the Australian Open on Wednesday to reach his first career Grand Slam semi-final. Swiss Wawrinka, who won the first of his three Grand Slams at Melbourne Park in 2014, broke Zverev twice early in the opening set to breeze through the opening set but the 22-year-old German came roaring back into the contest.
Rafael Nadal ended his four-year wait for a ninth Monte Carlo Masters title by defeating Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 on Sunday in his 100th career final.
'This probably hurts more than any loss I've ever had'
Rafael Nadal beat holder and top seed Roger Federer 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the final of the Hamburg Masters.
Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 6-1, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the final of the Cincinnati Masters and bring the Spaniard's 32-match unbeaten streak to a halt. Serb Djokovic will meet Andy Murray in the final after the 21-year-old Briton overcame giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the day's other semi-final.
Rafael Nadal once again hit out at the crammed ATP calendar and blamed the "poor" scheduling for his decision not to defend his Barcelona Open title this week.
'I make him play very easy. So you cannot expect to win matches in quarter-finals of Grand Slams helping the opponent to play well. That's what I did' 'It's not a bad result at all for me arriving here the way I arrived: only with one match, only with five matches in seven months. So taking the positive part, that's the thing that I have to take'
17 is an incredible number. I want to enjoy the moment, says Nadal, who also admits he thought he would have retired by now.
Rafael Nadal said he played near to perfection in his 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 drubbing of world number one Roger Federer for his record-equalling fourth consecutive French Open title on Sunday. The second-seeded Spaniard, who is unbeaten on the Paris clay since his debut in 2005, prevailed after only one hour and 48 minutes against a clumsy top seed.
Three-times champion Rafael Nadal celebrated his 22nd birthday with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 demolition of fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro for a place in the semi-finals of the French Open on Tuesday.
World number one Novak Djokovic is on a French Open semi-final collision course with nine-times champion Rafael Nadal after the draw was made on Friday.
Rafael Nadal said on Monday he expected to lose his world number two ranking to Serbia's Novak Djokovic by Wimbledon at the latest.
Rafael Nadal held off a fierce challenge from one of the hottest prospects in the game when he outlasted German teenager Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal joined the ranks of the all-time greats of tennis as he beat Novak Djokovic to win the US Open and complete his sets of Grand Slam titles. The Spaniard, 24, won a rain-interrupted final 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 at Flushing Meadows in New York.
World number one Rafael Nadal, who is struggling to get any match practice before the Australian Open, will play an exhibition event at Melbourne Park in the week leading up to the season opening Grand Slam, organisers said on Monday.
Tsitsipas made short work of Norwegian eighth seed Casper Ruud as he seized a third Monte Carlo Masters title in four years with a 6-1, 6-4 victory on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal needs only the US Open title to complete a career set of grand-slam titles but the relaxed Spaniard says he will never allow it to become an obsession.
Rafael Nadal torched Andy Murray's Wimbledon dream for the second time in three years on Friday as the marauding Spaniard grounded rising British hopes to roar into his fourth final at the grand slam.
Between them, Alcaraz and Sinner have shared the last six Grand Slam titles and their mesmeric clash last month in the longest-ever French Open final is being touted as one of the greatest of all time.
Late riser Novak Djokovic knows at least one thing might play in his favour if he gets through to the French Open semi-finals to face Rafael Nadal - he may not have to play before lunchtime.
Rafa Nadal's bid to get back to top form before the French Open suffered a setback when he crashed to a 6-4, 7-6(6) defeat to 13th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini in the third round of the Barcelona Open on Thursday.
