Rafael Nadal Decides On Pose for French Open Statue

Published 06/16/2019, 7:34 AM EDT

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Rafael Nadal conquered his 18th grand slam title at the French Open 2019 as he defeated Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in a repeat final of the 2018 edition.

The year 2020 will see some more changes at the French Open as a new retractable roof on the Philippe Chatrier Court will be opened after the stadium was rebuilt for the French open 2019 following the demolition of 80% of the stadium after the 2018 edition.

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The Spaniard has dominated on the Parisian Clay from the past 14 years. He conquered a record 12th title in Paris with an incredible win-loss record of 93-2. There were talks about having a statue of Rafael Nadal at the Roldan Garros for his unbelievable success at the biggest clay court event of the season.

Finally, it was decided that with a new retractable roof over the stadium, a statue in honour of Rafael Nadal will also be built. According to We Love Tennis, Rafael Nadal, the 12-time Roland Garros Champion desired to have the statue to feature him lifting the trophy. However, Rafael Nadal accepted a statue to feature him while hitting a ball.

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We love tennis wrote in a statement confirming about Rafael Nadal’s statue on the grounds of the Musketeers. They wrote, “According to our information we know that Rafa initially wanted a statue of him raising the trophy. After some negotiations, he accepted that it is a Rafa in full-foot action at a natural size that is offered to enthusiasts.”

The statue of Rafael Nadal will be accompanied by another symbolic statue of Roland Garros at the future entrance to remind the people about the veteran aviator.

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Earlier, the 33-year-old was asked on how the Philippe Chatrier will look like in the next years as a roof and lights will be introduced, Rafael Nadal replied, “I do not know the things that will happen in the future.”

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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