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Sweet Dreams to Rafa’s Foot

12:25 PM EDT on June 10, 2022

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By Giri Nathan
Photos by James Hill

[vc_empty_space height="15px"]I’ve run out of novel ways to celebrate the glory and inevitability of Rafael Nadal at Roland-Garros. I don’t think there are many feats in sport like it. I’m on the record as believing there will be nothing like it, ever again, in the men’s game. Of course, I said that before I knew of the existence of Carlos Alcaraz, who now seems intent on getting my foot in my mouth. But while we’re on the subject of a foot, we have to consider Rafa’s left one, which became the defining story of this 14-title run in Paris—and which has, despite his usual dominance in the score lines, made that title seem a little sweeter and scarcer than ever before.