If there's one title that Rafael Nadal is mostly known for, most would agree that it has to be the "King Of Clay". In Rafael Nadal's prime, the tennis player dominated his opponents on the clay hence the title. But in the world of tennis, there are others who claim the title of the "King Of Clay" such as Thomas Muster. However according to Thomas Muster's recent comments, the true "King Of Clay" is still Rafael Nadal.
In his prime during the early 90's, Thomas Muster was dominating the clay court much like Rafael Nadal. Thomas Muster was a former world number one and has one Grand Slam win at the French Open in 1995. He was called the "King Of Clay" since he won 40 of his 44 single titles on the clay court. However, despite his accomplisments, he believes that it is a privilege to be compared to Rafael Nadal.
In an interview at tennisworld.org, Thomas Muster says "Don't call me "King Of Clay", I won many clay-courts tournaments but there is only one king and that is Rafael Nadal. It's beautiful to be compared to him, but he won Roland Garros so many times, Rome and other events." This leaves no doubt that Rafael Nadal is the rightful "King Of Clay" as the former king has declared.
Rafael Nadal on the hand, is also a former world number 1 and has won 49 titles on clay including nine French Open titles. He also holds the record for the most consecutive titles at the Monte Carlo Masters. Rafael Nadal had a record of 66-1 from 2005-2014 on clay and is considered as one of the greatest achievement in the Open era. It's no wonder that Thomas Muster has no qualms in declaring Rafael Nadal as the true "King Of Clay."
The 31-year-old and ninth ranked Rafael Nadal is still recovering from his injuries that forced him to cut his 2016 season short. He will be returning in the Mbadala World Tennis Championship this December as he prepares for the 2017 season. Rafael Nadal will be defending his title in the the ninth edition of the tournament in Abu Dhabi.