Rafael Nadal - The King of Clay, 12th French Open title

Someone said, "To Death & Taxes being Life's only two certainties, we can now add a third - Rafa Nadal winning French Open."
Defying age & injury niggles, that has been a bother of late,  33year old Rafa Nadal crushed Dominic Thiem in the finals 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to lift the coveted French Open Cup at Roland Garros, Paris for the 12th time - a feat never ever achieved & probably would never be ( closest was Margaret Court at US Open with 11 wins) !!

Thiem fought hard, playing with aggression & purpose, & the first two sets were a see saw battle, but the marauding Mallorcan could not be tamed. Thiem won the second set at 7-5, raising hopes of a stupendous fightback for his fans, but Rafa just upped the tempo, ruthlessly going for the kill, & wrapping up the third & the fourth set in an emphatic win with minimum fuss.
It was vintage Nadal, picking at the rear of his shorts, mopping his brow while eyeing his opponent, aligning his water bottles with labels facing out at his chair with obsessive devotion, & then finally biting the trophy lovingly after winning - ruthless on court, but disarmingly humble, applauding & praising his vanquished opponents with childlike genuine affection - all idiosyncrasies that stands him out as a loveable Champion.
His Grand Slam cabinet now boasts of 12 French Open, 3 US Open, 2 Wimbledon & 1 Australian Open, - a total of 18 titles in 26 Grand Slam final appearances, standing second to none other than Roger Federer, who has 20 titles.
At 15, he turned professional & at 19, on his debut in 2005, he won his first French Open title, defeating top seeded Federer in the semis & Mariana Puerta in the finals - announcing to the world that a Champion has arrived. Other than Andre Agassi, Nadal is the only player to boast a career Grand Slam along with an Olympic Gold in men singles. Incidentally, Nadal has won Grand Slam titles in his teens, 20s & 30s, a feat managed only by Pete Sampras & Ken Rosewall in the past.
At French Open, he has an incredible win ratio of 98%, having lost only two matches, one to Robin Soderling in 2009 & then in 2016 he withdrew in the 3rd round owing to a wrist injury. - carving out statistics that will surely remain legendary for years to come. 🏆

If he can overcome injury issues, something that has been a bother for the past few years, we look forward to Rafa Nadal scaling further heights in tennis, especially in Clay.
Bow to the Champion🏆🙏🙏👏👏👍👍