As the French Open enters a new, post-Rafa, era this year, there are a couple of prevailing sentiments among tennis players.
One is: It's a shame the world won't get to see the King of Clay, as Rafael Nadal came to be called, ply his unique brand of topspin-heavy relentlessness on the crushed red brick of Roland-Garros, where he won a record 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles .
The other, expressed by men who would love to get a chance at carving their own bit of history at the place, goes like this: Whew, it sure will be nice not to have that guy looming in the bracket now that the 38-year-old Spaniard is retired .
Players no longer need to worry about Nadal at the French Open
"Luckily - or unluckily - I never got to play him in Roland-Garros ," said American Tommy Paul, a 2023 Australian Open semifinalist currently ranked 12th.