The juggernaut rolled on. Nadal broke off another 10 wins as the tour moved to North America. He was finally throttled in the final at Indian Wells, playing with a cracked rib, by No. 20-ranked Taylor Fritz.
Nadal was denied his familiar, signature level of success on European clay. He played fewer events than in the past and failed to reach even a semifinal due partly to the stress fracture suffered at Indian Wells.
“My body is like an old machine,” Nadal told reporters before the Italian Open, referring to a six-week layoff due to his damaged rib. “To put this machine on again it already again takes some time.”
The machine was fired up, as it always seems to be, when the tour hit Paris. Nadal won his 22nd Grand Slam title, the taste sweetened by a quarterfinal win over Djokovic. He revealed that he had played the entire tournament while getting daily injections that eliminated pain—along with feeling—in his damaged foot. Nadal professed surprise at the outcome.
“Well, for sure is a surprise,” he said. “If don’t surprise you [to] win 14 Roland Garros or 22 Grand Slam, is because you are super arrogant. Honestly, no, I am not this kind of guy. I never even dream about achieving the things that I achieved.”