Rafael Nadal pulled away to overcome Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 within the French Open ultimate on Sunday for his 14th championship at Roland Garros and twenty second Grand Slam name total, including to 2 information he already owned.
Nadal’s victory got here two days after his thirty sixth birthday, making him the oldest name winner within the historical past of the clay-court event.
Ruud led 3-1 in the second one set, a deficit that spurred Nadal to boost his degree — he took the ultimate 11 video games.
Nadal performed so crisply and cleanly, collecting greater than two times as many winners as Ruud, 37 to 16. Nadal additionally dedicated fewer unforced mistakes, making simply 16 to Ruud’s 26.
When it ended with a down-the-line backhand from Nadal, he chucked his racket to the purple clay he loves such a lot and coated his face with the taped-up arms on either one of his palms.
The Spaniard’s first triumph in Paris got here in 2005 at age 19. No guy or lady ever has received the singles trophy at any main match greater than his 14 in Paris, and no guy has received extra Grand Slam titles than Nadal.
He’s two forward of competitors Roger Federer, who has no longer performed in nearly a yr after a sequence of knee operations, and Novak Djokovic, who ignored the Australian Open in January as a result of he isn’t vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19 and misplaced to Nadal at Roland Garros.
Given his age, and, of extra fear, the persistent ache in his left foot that has been an off-and-on downside for years, Nadal has stated many times in contemporary days that he can by no means be certain whether or not each and every fit at Court docket Philippe Chatrier may well be his ultimate.
But, he vowed to stay taking part in, announcing that he’s going to “stay preventing to stay going” after Sunday’s win.
And Nadal does no longer actually appear to have many causes to give up now, making an allowance for that he navigated his well past 4 French Open fighters ranked within the best 10.
On his trail to the coveted name, Nadal beat No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime within the fourth spherical, No. 1 Djokovic within the quarterfinals, No. 3 Alexander Zverev — who stopped as a result of a foot damage — within the semifinals, after which No. 8 Ruud.
Nadal stepped forward to 14-0 within the finals at Roland Garros and 112-3 total at his favorite event.
Two Grand Slams down, two to move
For all that he has completed already, Nadal now has carried out one thing he by no means controlled in the past: He’s midway to a calendar-year Grand Slam because of titles on the Australian Open and French Open in the similar season.
Ruud is a 23-year-old from Norway who was once collaborating in a Grand Slam ultimate for the primary time.
He had by no means even performed in a big quarterfinal till now, however he gave the impression to be in a favorable temper after the finals, jokingly telling Nadal that he “wasn’t his first sufferer”.
Ruud, who considers Nadal his idol, and has skilled at his tennis academy in Mallorca, admits to having watched all of Nadal’s previous finals in Paris on TV.
The 2 have performed numerous apply units in combination there with not anything extra at stake than bragging rights. Nadal typically received the ones, and Ruud joked the opposite day that was once as a result of he was once seeking to be a well mannered visitor.
The 2 had by no means met in an actual fit till Sunday, when a championship, cash, score issues, status and a work of historical past have been at the line.
And Nadal demonstrated, as he has so ceaselessly, why he’s referred to as the King of Clay — and some of the sport’s largest ever.
He can now position this newest Coupe des Mousquetaires along the trophies he accrued at Roland Garros from 2005-08, 2010-14 and 2017-20.
He has additionally received america Open 4 occasions and the Australian Open and Wimbledon two times each and every.
