Kings battle and conquer, gods on the other hand, just have to show up.
Rafael Nadal has long been prasied as the King of Clay. He earned this name in his early 20s by beating the then presumably best on the surface, Guillermo Coria and consistently beating the best in the business, Roger Federer on red clay all over the world.
He won Master titles on the trot, multiple French Open championships and kept cementing his position in tennis as the best of his era on clay, probably the best ever to grace the red courts.