Rafael Nadal wins French Open without dropping a set

His thumping 6-2 6-3 6-1 victory over Stan Wawrinka meant he won the title without dropping a set during the whole tournament for the third time in his career having previously repeated the feat in 2008 and 2010.

Despite repeated injury problems in recent years, Nadal looked his imperious best at his beloved Roland Garros as he swatted aside third seed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

Nadal did not drop a single set during the tournament and lost only 35 games en route to victory - a total that stands as the second lowest number by a Grand Slam champion in the Open Era.

Nadal's 10th Roland Garros title is his 53rd on clay, the most won by a player on the surface in the Open Era.

For me, to pass Federer as the greatest of all time, Nadal would have to pass Federer in major titles and he would need to do so by winning titles, not at the French Open.

First game of the third set and Nadal broke again as the man who stunned him in the 2014 Australian Open final suffered further damage. It was his 18th crown.

Wawrinka had to come through five sets against world number one Andy Murray in the semi-finals and his body language quickly displayed his frustration as Nadal masterfully whipped balls into hard areas with punishing pace and accuracy - a spinning cross-court forehand putting him 3-0 up in the second set.

"It's a feeling that's impossible to describe", Nadal was quoted as saying by French Open website. "It's hard to compare with other tournaments but the nerves and adrenaline I feel, it's like no other place".

"It's the most important event in my career".

"You were too good", Wawrinka told Nadal during the prize presentation after losing in a Grand Slam final for the first time in four appearances. But if I have pain on my knees I know it is nearly impossible and my chances are not there. "As I like to say, if I can do it, someone else can do it", he said.

Afterward, Nadal said about Djokovic: "He deserves to win this tournament".

It's a Grand Slam, but it's the same Grand Slam. He's been nothing short of phenomenal on the clay court.

"I don't know if he really believed he had another Grand Slam in him. If I did it, probably somebody else gonna do it, because I don't consider myself very special", he said. They let out a burst of claps and roars in the second set on one particularly exquisite display: Wawrinka smacked a cross-court backhand to a corner, and Nadal sprinted to his left to get to the ball, wide of the doubles alley, and whip a forehand that curved around the net post and landed near a line for a victor.

But the barrel-chested "Stanimal" was powerless as Nadal turned the final into an exhibition of his claycourt supremacy - taking his French Open record to an eye-watering 79-2. "It's always been an honour to play against you, two Grand Slam finals now - congratulations to you for your career".

"For sure he's playing the best he's ever played".

Nadal owns 53 clay trophies after adding his tenth at Roland Garros to the 10 he won at both Monte Carlo and Barcelona over the last three months.