First modification: 04/06/2022 – 15:56Last modification: 04/06/2022 – 15:54
Paris (AFP) – Rafael Nadal, at 36 years old, will fight on Sunday to win his 14th title at Roland Garros and will do so against the young Norwegian Casper Ruud, 23 years old and who has perfected his tennis at the academy that the Spanish tennis player has in his native Mallorca .
If he won the title, Nadal would not only extend his record for titles in Paris to 14 and the Grand Slam to 22, but he would also become the oldest tennis player to win the Musketeers Cup, 17 years after the first.
Once again, Nadal has overcome all adversity to get into a new final in Paris (the 14th) in an edition in which for the first time in many years he did not arrive as the great favorite.
Everything that is not a new title now will be a major surprise.
The doubts obviously did not come from his tennis, but from his physical condition and, above all, from that battered left foot that betrayed him again in Rome ten days before the Parisian event and that jeopardized his participation in the tournament that most success has given him.
To realize to what extent the Spaniard suffers, you only have to look at the answer he gave on Friday when asked what he would choose, a new foot or a new title: “Without a doubt, I prefer to lose the final.”
“My happiness before a title
“A new foot would allow me to be happier in my daily life. I have a life ahead of me and in the future I would love to go do amateur sports with my friends. My happiness is ahead of any title,” he argued.
Despite his physical condition, Nadal has played an almost impeccable tournament and his epic victory against Novak Djokovic last Tuesday in the quarterfinals will go down in tennis history, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and 7- 6 (7/4).
It is true that his qualification for the final did not come in the most ideal condition, since his rival, the German Alexander Zverev, injured his ankle in the final stretch of the second set, having to leave the court in a wheelchair, but Nadal was already dominating 7-6 (10-8) and 6-6 in a match that threatened to become eternal, since 3 hours and 2 minutes were played and the second set had not finished.
“I think he was a bit lucky that the game was over before five or six hours of play, because he seemed very tired,” said former number 1 Mats Wilander, now a Eurosport commentator.
Something that Nadal recognized in the press conference. “You have to be honest, there has been a problem of fatigue. At 2-1 in the second set I have run out of energy.”
However, the Spaniard attributed it to the fact that he had to play indoors due to the rain, with very high humidity, which means that “the ball becomes very heavy and large and does not take on the usual spin, so it is very difficult harm”.
On Sunday the conditions could be repeated, since the forecasts announce rain for the start of the game (around 3:00 p.m. local time, 1:00 p.m. GMT), but unlike Zverev, this time he will face a specialist on the ground like Ruud.
“A slow court, people usually think that it is more favorable for specialists on the ground, but it is the other way around, it is much more favorable for those who have a more direct tennis, who hit the ball flatter,” Nadal explained.
Trained at the Mallorcan academy
Despite being trained by his father, Christian Ruud, who became No. 39 on the circuit, the young Casper has forged himself as a tennis player at the Rafa Nadal Academy, where he has spent seasons perfecting his game, especially on clay.
They have never met in an official tournament, although they have in Nadal’s academy. “He has always beaten me, but it was because he wanted to be polite,” Ruud joked at a press conference after beating Croatian Marin Cilic in the semi-finals.
More seriously, the Norwegian added: “I think I’ve seen all his finals here and he’s won them all, so it seems impossible to beat him, although I’ll give my best…as did the other thirteen who lost before me. “.
“I’m going to dream that I make great winning shots and incredible long rallies because it will be the price to pay for having an opportunity. I will have to play the best tennis of my life, but I have to believe in it,” added the current N.8.
The title for Nadal would be one more step towards legend; for Ruud the first of a career that he promises.
© 2022 AFP
