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Published on : 05/06/2022 – 17:31Modified : 05/06/2022 – 18:10
Rafael Nadal won the Roland-Garros final on Sunday against Casper Ruud in three sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-0). Undisputed king of the Porte d’Auteuil, he lifted his 14th Coupe des Mousquetaires.
Fourteen Roland-Garros finals, fourteen finals won. Rafael Nadal continued writing the French Open legend on Sunday June 5. Facing Casper Ruud, it only took him three sets to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires once again (6-3, 6-3, 6-0) – his 22e Grand Slam victory, an absolute record. He is now two steps ahead of his two historic rivals, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (20 each).
For his first Grand Slam final, Casper Ruud is nervous. Normal when you face one of his idols – which the Norwegian had seen from the stands his eighth coronation. Since then, Rafael Nadal has played in five additional finals on the Philippe-Chatrier court, all won. He makes his experience speak and takes advantage of it, winning the first game very quickly, in just over four minutes. The king of clay takes the break in stride.
The Norwegian is however not in the final to make up the numbers. He quickly finds his marks and breaks on the next game. But, while Casper Ruud offers himself two equalizers, Rafael Nadal does not admit defeat. He erases them one by one before taking his opponent’s service game (3-1).
One set, then two, then three…
Behind, the “Bull of Manacor” unrolls and wins the set (6-3), even if Casper Ruud is gradually showing himself to be more threatening by multiplying the climbs to the net.
“I will do everything possible … as did the other thirteen before me,” promised Casper Ruud before the match.
The eighth in the world keeps his promise and is more enterprising in the second round. Casper Ruud is on par with Rafael Nadal and thinks of tipping the match with the break in the fourth game. But King Nadal refuses to let this crime of lèse-majesté pass. He prevents the Norwegian from confirming his advantage then inflicts a white game on him to equalize. The rest of the set is a health walk for the Mallorcan (6-3).
Casper Ruud transparent
The last round is a formality. Rafael Nadal has the luxury of inflicting a humiliating “bubble” on his transparent opponent. After the long battles against Félix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 16 and Novak Djokovic in the quarter, and the three-hour match against Alexander Zverev, Rafael Nadal returned to machine mode for the last step.
On the trophy presentation podium, he silenced the rumors sending him to retirement after this last fight: “I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I will continue to fight” , he promised.
Before the final, he said he was “probably” ready to exchange this new Coupe des Mousquetaires for a new left foot. To see him use his current foot in this final and win a 22e Grand Slam, we say to ourselves that he could still continue to win with it for a long time.
