Only complacency can stop Rafael Nadal now

Having recorded the largest victory of his Grand Slam career, it seems only complacency can stop Rafael Nadal from claiming a 15th Grand Slam singles title and achieving ‘La Decima‘ at Roland Garros.

The Spaniard lost just one game in his third-round victory over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili to progress to the round of 16, where he will meet compatriot Roberto Bautista-Agut.

It marked the 31-year-old’s 98th win in 100 career best-of-five matches on clay, stretching back to the start of the 2005 season, in which he announced himself to the tennis universe.

His achievements on the red dirt have led to the nickname “The King of Clay”, and came at a time when many believed Roger Federer was set to dominate the sport.

Indeed, Nadal proved to be the major impediment towards the Swiss completing a Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, defeating him in the 2005 semi-final as well as the 2006, 2007 and 2008 finals.

It was only when the Spaniard fell early in 2009 that Federer was finally able to complete his set.

The Mallorca native restored order at Roland Garros by winning five titles in a row between 2010 and 2014, but has not won another major title since.

Entering this season, questions were always going to be asked as to whether he could indeed win another Grand Slam title, given the injury woes he had encountered since last winning here.

In fact, this time 12 months ago he was forced to withdraw from the French Open midway through the tournament due to a wrist injury.

It forced him to miss Wimbledon, but he did return for the Rio Olympics where he lost the bronze medal match to Kei Nishikori after going down in a semi-final thriller against Juan Martin del Potro.

All that, and the fact he is now on the wrong side of 30, led to the belief that the Spaniard’s best was well past him.

But if Federer’s victory at the Australian Open in January (in which he defeated Nadal in a five-set classic) is anything to go by, then predictions of Nadal’s demise might be exaggerated after all.

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Entering the clay court season, all eyes were on Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to see if they could arrest their poor starts to this season, but it was Nadal who came out all guns blazing.

He swept all before him to achieve ‘La Decima‘ at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and early last month won his fifth title in Madrid. He looked set to continue his domination in Rome, only to run into an inspired Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals.

Regardless, he is the man to beat at Roland Garros, having rediscovered the dominant form that saw him virtually invincible on clay over the past decade.

Nick Kyrgios recently said that it was hard seeing a changing of the guard, as the Spaniard’s dominance on his favoured surface was “as big as it’s ever been”.

“I think Thiem played an unbelievable match in Rome to just beat him. Then looked what happened the next round, he’s completely gone, physically and mentally,” the Australian said.

“I thought he was going to beat Novak Djokovic, to be honest. Then he won one game.

“Nadal, I don’t think he’s worried at all about anyone in this tournament, to be fair.

“Best of five, it suits him. He knows he’s not going to lose. Let’s be realistic.”

Indeed, Nadal has not dropped a set, nor lost more than four games in a set, in his three matches to date.

That has Bautista-Agut on red alert, after which Nadal could possibly face another compatriot, Pablo Carreno Busta, or Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic, in the quarters.

Defending champion Djokovic is then likely to await in the semis. The Serb, for his part, dodged a major roadblock in his path to a successful title defence, being stretched to five sets by Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

The 30-year-old, with new coach Andre Agassi in his corner, has suffered a dip in form this season but a return to the scene where he finally completed his career Grand Slam set could be the spark he needs.

However, Nadal’s dominace means it will take a Herculean effort by others, including Djokovic, to stop him from winning a record tenth.