2005 French Open News
By Alix Ramsay | June 05, 2005

Nadal shows Puerta the Door

Pressure is a strange thing. It can turn some men to jelly and turn others into world beaters. Rafael Nadal falls into the latter category. Coming to Roland Garros, he was the odds-on favorite to win his first grand slam title on his debut here and he was the man who had not been beaten in 23 clay court matches. Surely no one could stop him lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires? No, pressure, then.

It took Nadal nearly 3 ½ hours to do it, but somehow the 19 year old from Majorca overcame his nerves, the crowd's expectations and a stupendous effort from Mariano Puerta to win the French Open title 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5.

It was almost all over before it began. Although Nadal was tentative and anxious as the match began, he was not in as much trouble as Puerta. Broken in the opening game, the powerful Argentine was standing two points from a 1-4 deficit. And then he sat down. Facing two break points, he made for his chair and called for the trainer.

His right thigh was hurting and he was limping badly. Unable to serve or continue, he thought his moment was over. "I thought that was it," he said. "But the trainer gave me a bandage and the pain went away."

From that moment on he was a new man. Laying into his forehand, a weapon of frightening power, he snatched back the break points and broke Nadal in the very next game. Someone had torn up the script and Nadal looked lost.

Puerta's route to the final had been long and arduous. Beginning back in July last year, he tried to put his career back together after a nine month ban for taking the steroid clenbuterol. He had been given the drug by a doctor to cure an acute asthma attack and Puerta failed to inform the authorities that he had taken the drug. When he tested positive at a tournament in Chile at the end of 2003, he had no defence to offer other than forgetfulness and he was suspended from all competition until last summer.

He has worked and travelled and played like a man possessed to rebuild his career and now, remarkably, he was in the final of the French Open.

Even so, he played 10 sets to get through the quarter and semi finals and after he closed out the first set tiebreak, he began to fade. At the same time, Nadal was beginning to fight and to show some of the fire that has carried him to the No.3 spot in the rankings.

Puerta may be built like a carthorse, but there is more to his game than just muscle. He is an intelligent player and once Nadal started to perk up, the battle of wills and minds between the two men was fascinating. Nadal moved Puerta left and right, he brought him forward and then pushed him back and he made him run like a whippet. And then Puerta did the same to Nadal. The crowd, a voluble bunch at best, did not know who to cheer. Nadal was the star of the tournament but Puerta was the star of the moment. They loved every minute of it.

But just when it seemed that Puerta had run out of gas, he launched one last assault in the fourth set. As Nadal looked just a little edgy, Puerta pounced and broke for a 5-4 lead. He held three set points to take the match into a fifth set but Nadal was not to be beaten.

"He is going to be a legend one day," Puerta said of his conqueror. "The strength that he has and the way he explodes with power when he steps into the court. He has the mental strength to beat records. But even though I didn't win today, I feel like I did."

As for Nadal, he could not believe it. He ran over to the Presidents' Box and shook hands with King Juan Carlos of Spain, he scrambled up and into the Presidents' Box in order to find the quickest way to reach his family and then he hugged everyone.

"It was an unbelievable match," Nadal said. "I play with my best head, with my best tennis and that won me the final. Sometimes in the match I thought I was going to lose. When Puerta won the first set, I think he can win the match. He was playing unbelievable. I play very well at the end so that's why I can win."

So now Nadal is off to Halle to play on grass and prepare for Wimbledon. "I like a lot grass, I don't play my best tennis on grass but I want to improve," he said. Roger Federer will be pleased to learn of that.

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