After turning 36 on Friday, Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrated on Sunday with his 14th Roland Garros title and 22nd Grand Slam tournament win.
“The King of Clay,” seeded No. 5 this year, further cemented his French Open dominance by defeating Norway’s eighth-seeded Casper Ruud, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0, in a final that lasted all of 2 hours and 18 minutes. Nadal has now won both majors contested this year, and extended his staggering career record in Paris to 112-3.
“For me personally, it is very tough to describe the feelings that I have—it’s something I never believed I would be here at 36 being competitive, one more final,” Nadal said during his victory speech. “It means everything to keep going.”
Nadal cruised to the opening set, breaking serve twice during the first four games, but he initially fell behind in the second as the 23-year-old Ruud ripped a series of forehand winners. Still, the Spaniard battled back from a 3-1 deficit to secure the set. Ruud seemed physically and emotionally drained in the third, with Nadal commanding each and every shot.
Winning a relatively clinical match point, Nadal smiled ear to ear and buried his face in his taped hands.
Not long after clinching match point, Nadal chatted with Billie Jean King during the victory ceremony. He hoisted La Coupe des Mousquetaires to applause from an adoring crowd. In his speech, Nadal thanked the tournament organizers and all those involved.
“I want to say merci, merci, beaucoup,” Nadal added, avoiding any rumored talk of potential retirement in his on-court speech. “For me it’s incredible. I don’t know what can happen in the future, but I will fight to keep going.”
For an athlete widely considered one of the best-ever tennis players, Nadal was not the favorite headed into this year’s clay-court major. Since he fell to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 French Open semifinals, the world No. 5 has struggled with the resurgence of chronic left foot pain caused by Mueller-Weiss Syndrome. Though he has dealt with the issue to some degree for his entire career, Nadal has been especially inconsistent this last year: He cited the pain following his third-round loss to Canada’s Denis Shapovalov at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in early May. This flare-up followed a rib fracture sustained during a loss to American Taylor Fritz in the final of March’s BNP Paribas Open.
Still, the injury didn’t stop Nadal during this tournament. The Spaniard faced perhaps his biggest test during a quarterfinal rematch against defending champ Djokovic, the top seed. This time, Nadal came out on top: He overwhelmed his surprisingly loose opponent in four sets, winning a tiebreak in the match's last set.
Nadal’s subsequent semifinal, against Germany’s third-seeded Alexander Zverev, saw two tight sets before Zverev sustained a brutal ankle injury that forced him to retire.
