Roger Federer is left looking over his shoulder after Rafael Nadal took an astounding twelfth French Open title on Sunday at Roland Garros.
The Spaniard closed to within two Grand Slam victories of the 37-year-old Swiss when he saw off the game challenge of Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in three hours and one minute of ferocious combat at Roland Garros.
At 33 Nadal now has 18 Majors to Federer's 20, and his most reliable supply of these precious commodities shows no sign of slowing up.
Rafael Nadal powered his way to his 12th French Open title as the world No 2 produced a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory on Sunday
He was given a solid examination by Austria's Dominic Thiem, who took one set, but Nadal showed his dominance in the end
The Spaniard's serve was lethal for much of the contest as the final two sets in the match saw Thiem win just two games
The shock was etched across Thiem's face as he had no answers to Nadal's ground strokes in what became a tough afternoon
The king of Court Philippe-Chatrier was at his most unforgiving, bar one slip late in the second set when Thiem had the impudence to make it less than a cakewalk.
The Austrian deserves great credit for his efforts this fortnight, and can at least say that this was an improvement on last year's final, when he managed only nine games.
But Nadal remains peerless, and the memory of some wobbly performances early in the clay court season, such as losing in the semi-finals of his Monte Carlo citadel, seems a long time ago.
It is hard to believe that any tennis match has begun with the brutal intensity of this one, both players hitting the daylights out of the ball for the first seven games that took 44 minutes to complete.
Nadal's fiance Xisca Perello watched on nervously as her husband-to-be thrashed out with a buoyant Thiem on Sunday
NBA star Tony Parker returned back to his native France to take in the showpiece event on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Nadal is the star of the clay-court season and King of Spain Juan Carlos I (right) and Queen Sophia (left) came to see him play
For those who were not lucky enough to have a ticket to Chatrier, an extensive crowd gathered under one of the big screens
Thiem was showing no
