Rafael Nadal on Day 4 of the 2019 French Open
Clive Mason | Getty Images Sport | beautiful pictures
Rafael Nadal pull away to beat Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in France is open final on Sunday for his 14th championship at Roland Garros and his 22nd Grand Slam title overall, adding to the two records he already owns.
Nadal’s victory came two days after his 36th birthday and made him the oldest title winner in the history of the clay court tournament.
Ruud took a 3-1 lead in the second set, a deficit that prompted Nadal to raise his level – he’s lost his last 11 games.
Nadal played very sharp and clean, accumulating twice as many winners as Ruud, 37 to 16. Nadal also made fewer unwarranted fouls, just Ruud’s 16 to 26.
When the match ended with a knocking backhand from Nadal, he put his racquet down on the red clay that he loved so much and covered his face with his thumbs up on both of his hands.
The Spaniard’s first victory in Paris was in 2005 at the age of 19. And no man has won more Grand Slam titles than Nadal.
He is ahead of rivals Roger Federer, who hasn’t competed for nearly a year after a series of knee surgeries, and Novak Djokovic, who missed the Australian Open in January because he was not vaccinated against Covid. -19 and lost to Nadal at Roland Garros.
Given his age, and more worryingly, chronic pain in his left foot which has become a constant problem for many years, Nadal has said several times in recent days that he could never sure whether every match at Court Philippe Chatrier could be his last.
There doesn’t really seem to be much reason to give up, though, considering he’s already outplayed four top 10 ranked French Open opponents (9 Felix Auger-Aliassime in round 4, number 1 Djokovic in the quarterfinals, No. 3 Alexander Zverev – who stopped with a foot injury – in the semi-finals, and then No. 8 Ruud).
Nadal improves to 14-0 in finals at Roland Garros and 112-3 overall at his favorite tournament.
For all he has achieved, Nadal has now done what he has never done before: He is halfway to the Grand Slam of the calendar year thanks to titles in Australia. Open and French Open in the same season.
Ruud is a 23-year-old player from Norway who is attending a Grand Slam final for the first time. He has never even played in a major quarterfinal until now.
He considers Nadal his idol. He recalls watching all of Nadal’s previous finals in Paris on TV. He trained at Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca.
They played countless practice matches together there with nothing more dangerous than bragging rights. Nadal usually gets those wins, and Ruud the day before joked that it was because he was trying to be a polite guest.
The two had never met in a real match until Sunday, when championships, money, ratings, prestige and a piece of history were on the way. And Nadal has proven, as he often does, why he’s called the King of Clay – and one of the game’s greatest ever.
He can now order this latest Coupe des Mousquetaires alongside the titles he collected at Roland Garros from 2005-08, 2010-14 and 2017-20. He has also won the US Open four times, the Australian Open and Wimbledon twice each.
