“The emotion of a country,” said Madrid sports daily Marca, as Nadal also moved into joint-third in the all-time list of Grand Slam winners alongside Australian Roy Emerson on 12.

“Nadal’s figures on the red dust in general and particularly at Roland Garros are scary,” the paper assessed.u00a0“Between the four walls of the French tournament his numbers have reached 59 matches won, more than anyone, and just one defeat to Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals in 2009.”

The other Madrid sports daily AS led with “Nadal breaks the limits”. One columnist said “this tournament, this city, form part of the axis of his monumental career, which has many more things besides, but he is really special thanks to Paris and its emblematic tournament”.u00a0