He certainly left his indelible mark in Paris. A larger-than-life statue was erected near an entrance to the tournament grounds in 2021, while he was still active; a ceremony honoring him will be held Sunday in the main stadium, Court Philippe-Chatrier, after the first three matches of Day 1.

That's the win-loss record for Nadal at the French Open, giving him a career winning percentage of .966. The only four losses came in 2009 against Robin Soderling in the fourth round, against Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarterfinals and the 2021 semifinals, and against Alexander Zverev in last year's first round.

As a sports writer, Christopher Clarey covered more than a hundred Grand Slam tennis tournaments (and 15 Olympics) for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, besides authoring the acclaimed 2021 book The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer.