Nadal predicts golden era coming to close

Spaniard hopes to win a record 10th French Open title next year

PARIS: Rafael Nadal believes that the golden generation of himself, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray could be in its death throes.

The 28-year-old Spaniard may have collected his ninth French Open title and 14th major on Sunday, but his lingering, tearful appreciation of Roland Garros's Philippe Chatrier court in the aftermath of his win, hinted that he knew change was in the air.

Nadal took his Paris record to a staggering 66 wins against just one loss since his debut as a 19-year-old in 2005.

But he will be 29 when he attempts to win a 10th title in 2015 while Sunday's runner-up Djokovic and Wimbledon champion Murray will be 28. This time next year, Federer will be staring down the barrel of his 34th birthday.

Between them, those four men have won 39 of the last 44 majors stretching back to Federer's first Wimbledon title in 2003.

"This year is emotional for different reasons," said Nadal after his record-setting fifth consecutive French Open title.

"I am 28, it's not forever. I want to enjoy the moment because I have worked so hard to be here. I will have a few more opportunities but you don't know if I will ever win it again."

Nadal's introspection was an echo of his feelings after his second round win over Austrian hot-shot Dominic Thiem, the 20-year-old widely expected to be a title threat in Paris in 12 months' time.

"Our generation is on the way out. We have all been here for a long while. It's normal. A generation is walking away and others will replace us. It will not come overnight, but it will come," said Nadal.

He admitted that fatigue was a huge factor in Sunday's French Open final where he beat Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

If he had not won the second set, he felt that "I don't know if I would have this trophy with me now".

Even Toni Nadal, his uncle and coach since boyhood, believes lifting a 10th French Open may be beyond even the famed super powers of his nephew.

"What I hope now for him is to win it for a 10th time," said Toni. "But I know that it will be more and more difficult, even almost impossible. Each year the chances of victory are reduced. Next year, we will arrive with the fear of losing, telling ourselves it'll be really hard."

Nadal has battled knee and back injuries in recent years, setbacks which caused him to miss Wimbledon in 2009, the US Open in 2012 and the 2013 Australian Open.

"Happily the match today was over in four sets because Rafael was cramping in his calf. He was really tired," revealed Toni.

Djokovic, meanwhile, has now lost seven of his 13 finals at the majors although he has vowed to keep returning to Paris in an effort to win at least one Roland Garros title and join Nadal and Federer as men who have completed the career Grand Slam.

The Serb may have time on his side, but the same cannot be said of Federer.

He may have the record of 17 Grand Slam titles but he has won just one trophy in his last 17 major outings.

His fourth round loss to Ernests Gulbis at the French Open was his earliest exit in Paris in 10 years.

But despite his declining powers, Federer is not ready for the old folks' home just yet.

"It's true that I have won everything, but I am still fascinated by the sport and by the desire to face the daily challenges of the world's best players and the young stars," said the Swiss.

New faces boost women's tennis

Women's tennis was given a timely shot in the arm at the French Open with a new wave of talent emerging onto the scene.

The singles title might have gone to Maria Sharapova, still only 27, but a fixture on the world stage for the past decade.

But to lift the title for the second time in her career, she needed to pull on all her reserves to see off youthful challenges in her last three games.

In the quarter-finals it was 20-year-old Spaniard Garbine Muguruza who took the Russian to three tight sets, in the semis it was the turn of 20-year-old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard to go the distance with her and in the final, Sharapova was given one of the hardest battles of her career before subduing 22-year-old Romanian stylist Simona Halep.

Conversely, this year's tournament was unkind to the older group of players who have been dominating women's tennis for the last year, with Serena Williams and Li Na, both in their 30s, winning three of the last four Grand Slam titles between them in Paris, New York and Melbourne.

The American powerhouse and the Chinese star both lost early at Roland Garros and with third seed Agnieszka Radwanska also going out in the third round, it was the first time in the Open era that none of the top three seeds made it through to the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament.

Sharapova agreed that it had been one of the most unpredictable and toughest Grand Slam events in years.

"It's been a mixture of, you know, older generation, newer generation, and some people that are somewhere in the middle probably, like me," she said.

"There is always the favorites. There is always the underdogs.  There's always the young ones that people are looking towards and believe will be the rising stars. I think this tournament has proven to be that. There were some upsets in the beginning.

"But I think you've seen a lot of different matches. For me, it's been a very physical tournament, one of the most physical Grand Slams I have ever played."

Of course young upstarts winning grand slam titles is not something that is unheard of in women's tennis.

Serena Williams was 17 when she won the 1999 US Open while Martina Hingis was only 16 when she swept to the 1997 Wimbledon, Australian and US Open titles.

Throughout the 1990s, 15 Grand Slam singles titles were won by players in their teens.

Even further back in time, Tracy Austin was 16 when she lifted the 1979 US Open trophy and Steffi Graf was 17 at the time of her French Open triumph in 1987.

But in stark contrast, the last teenage women's champion at a major was in 2004 when a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon.

The chances of another teenager winning a major any time soon looks unlikely, but the rest of the year will prove if there is about to be a changing of the guard at the top of women's tennis.

Bouchard for one is convinced she has what it takes to go all the way.

"I have this, you know, self-belief in myself," she said. "I definitely feel like I can play with the best girls in the game.

"I think I still have a ways to go, but I'm on the way to becoming a better player than I am today hopefully. You know, that's always the goal, is to try to get better."

"I feel like I'm definitely taking steps in the right direction to become what my dreams and what I want to achieve."