Six years ago, a small window of opportunity opened up at the French Open as the king of the clay court, four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal, did the unthinkable and lost. The fourth-round defeat came at the hands of Robin Soderling and completely opened the field for a new winner. (It should be noted that just a few weeks later, Nadal would pull out of Wimbledon with knee soreness.)
None other than the great Roger Federer, who had lost to Nadal in the finals each of the three previous trips to Roland Garros, took full advantage to win. And in the process, he completed his career grand slam—something No. 1 ranked Novak Djokovic has yet to claim.
There’s been no such opportunity since 2009, though, as Nadal, now with a 66–1 career record at the only clay-court major, has taken the last five to give him an unmatched, unprecedented, and unheard-of nine titles in 10 career tries there.
That should stop in 2015, though.
