'King of Clay' Nadal retains his crown, wins 12th French Open title

The king retains his crown. Rafael Nadal has once again proved he is the ‘King of Clay’ as he defeated Dominic Thiem on Sunday (June 9). This is his 12th French Open title and is the first player to achieve this feat.

While the initial phase of the game seemed close, it was only after losing the second set did Nadal made a come back.

The Spanish player’s aggression and fierce during the match gave him a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win over fourth seed Dominic Thiem, who was playing for the fourth straight day and had no answer to Nadal’s roars.

Golf veteran Tiger Woods took to Twitter to congratulate Nadal and had a special message for the man of the moment. “The King of Clay does not like to share his wealth,” Woods tweeted.

Australia’s young player Alex de Minaur rather chose to go a notch up for congratulating Nadal on his Paris triumph and called him a “cheat code” on clay court surface.