Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal defeated Alexander Zverev 6-1 1-6 6-3 to win his 56th clay-court title. In the process, he completed the “Monte Carlo and Rome Doubles” in the same year for the sixth year in his career.

This victory will give him a massive boost ahead of the 2018 French Open in a week’s time. He will once again be the favourite to win but you can never discount his opponents. Rafa will be gunning for a record 11th French Open title but we can guarantee that it won’t be easy.

Coming back to the Rome title, Nadal vanquished Zverev in 2 hours and 9 minutes. The also had two breaks for rain but Zverev insisted that the rain had nothing to do with the loss.

He said, “No, it’s not. But it happens. Nothing you can do about it. He came out way faster, played way more aggressive than I did. It took me a long time to get activated again. I ran out of time. The break took my momentum away.”

Several tennis personalities reacted to Rafael Nadal’s eighth Rome title.

‘The best one!!’, said David Ferrer, a good friend of Nadal and a fierce rival.

Juan Monaco, a former top 10 player and another of Nadal’s close friends, wrote: ‘What a match! Rafa did it again. But Zverev is so good, he is definitely the future No.1′.

When Nadal was dominating in the first set, the Argentine wrote: ‘Besides the game of these two phenomenons, Rafa has the ability to let a player like Zverev, who is coming from a number of matches wins, not have patience.’

Tennis legend Boris Becker wrote:‘Congrats to Rafael Nadal for being Rafa today! I must say few words about Sascha though, amazing effort/heart/discipline from the young German all week long! The rain came at the right/wrong time today..