With a place on tennis' Mount Rushmore already secure, Nadal certainly didn't need to win this tournament to secure his legacy, but 10-time French Open champion has a nice ring to it, and passing Sampras in Grand Slam titles gives his resume some extra juice.
Key Stat: Two days after turning 19, Nadal became the youngest man to win a major title since Michael Chang was 17 at the 1989 French Open.
Wawrinka, who has three major titles, had never lost a Grand Slam final but was clearly struggling to come up with answers to Nadal's clay-court prowess.
His collection of Slams now stands just three behind great rival Roger Federer, a staggering statistic coming just a year after he quit Roland Garros with a wrist injury. I'm very emotional. I try my best in all the events but the feeling I have here is impossible to describe. Former French Open victor Carlos Moya - now Nadal's co-coach, added past year for a fresh voice - will be taking on more of the load.
Rafael Nadal has been given a replica of the French Open trophy to mark his 10 titles at Roland Garros.
Wawrinka's desire to be aggressive saw him commit errors that put his second service game under intense pressure, though Nadal went long when trying to break at the fourth attempt in a lengthy game four.
The Spaniard's uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, presented him with the copy of La Coupe des Mousquetaires.
Nadal got a time violation at the start of the second, but Wawrinka could not slow the Spaniard's charge as he bounded into a 3-0 lead in the second having won seven games in a row.
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- Nadal claimed his sixth French Open to equal the record of Borg, also taking his Slam total into double figures at 10.
Gustavo Kuerten has been given his Hall of Fame ring in a ceremony marking 20 years since the Brazilian won his first French Open title. "The adrenaline and nerves I feel on this court I can't describe". "He is playing the best he has ever played, that's for sure". He also padded his all-time record at Roland Garros to 79-2 all-time and 102-2 in a best-of-five clay-court matches.
"Last year", Nadal said, "was not an easy one".
No matter as he broke through for 4-2 and then went to set point in the eighth game after a relentless forehand barrage sapped the will out of Wawrinka.
"Physically I felt good, but mentally it was tough". The sun was shining, there was barely a trace of cloud in the bright blue sky and the temperature was about 30 degrees Celsius.
One area of significant improvement for Nadal is his serve.
"There is nothing to say about today, you were too good", Wawrinka said. I played against the biggest clay-court player ever.
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