Rafael Nadal celebrating after winning
his fifth French Open title. (AP)

His triumph at Roland Garros has earned him the nickname “The King of Clay”. Rafael Nadal is back on top after beating Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 on the red clay court of the 2010 French Open finals on Sunday.

Nadal reinstated not only the French Open title but also his ranking as world’s No. 1 tennis player, replacing Roger Federer. You can also call it a sweet revenge to Soderling, who ended his unbeaten record, knocking him out of the fourth round last year.

‘I was very nervous through the tournament,’ Rafa admitted. ‘Last year was very difficult and I had to retire during the Australian Open. Everybody has doubts about themselves and I am no exception. This was very important.’

“I lost last year because I was not well-prepared, and I had very low morale last year, as well,” said Nadal. “But this time, I’m back,” said Nadal, who covered his face with a red towel and shed some tears when the match ended. “I’m back — and I win.”

“He has more or less one game,” Soderling said, “but he does it so well.”

Nadal, who won the title without dropping a set, is just the second man to win Roland Garros five times and running his record at the clay-court Grand Slam to 38-1. He is now within one victory of equalling Bjorn Borg’s record of six titles.

Nadal’s uncle and coached, Toni, called Sunday’s performance “one of the best matches I’ve ever seen Rafael play.”

In fairness to Robin Soderling, he displayed an impressive game against Rafael Nadal. Would love to see them again on the grass-court at Queen’s or Wimbledon.

Rafael Nadal is back on court and he’s back with a vengeance. There’s clearly no indication that he had a knee injury when he faced his opponent, David Ferrer, at the 2009 Rogers Cup. The game lasted only for 36 minutes which was held at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada. The score was 4-3 when David Ferrer notified the umpire that he can no longer continue the game.

Nadal lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the French Open last May 2009. Then on June 19, Nadal withdrew from the 2009 Wimbledon Championship after it was confirmed the Spanish player was suffering from tendinitis in both of his knees.

“It’s always a pleasure to come back,” said Nadal, “It’s only been (two) months and a half, it’s not three years outside of tennis. But when you have some time off competition, when you come back, it’s a little more exciting.”

Rafael Nadal’s next opponent would be Germany’s Philipp Petzschner on Thursday, August 13, 2009. Petzschner didn’t play so bad himself after he won against Spanish 15th seed Tommy Robredo in a 7-6, 7-6 game.

Rafael Nadal was last year’s winner of the Rogers Cup. We’re always happy to welcome back good players such as Nadal.