Rafael Nadal won his 14th title at Roland Garros last week, restoring order to Paris and edging out Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by two major crowns.
With his team and his family, the King of Spain Felipe VI was among the spectators on the Philippe-Chatrier track during Sunday’s final. Rafa pleased the king by beating Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in two hours and 18 minutes and lifting the 22nd major trophy.
It was Nadal’s 14th victory in as many finals in Paris and his 112th victory in 115 appearances at his beloved Grand Slam. Despite numerous injury setbacks, Rafa won the first two Majors of the season for the first time in his career and wrote new pages in the history books.
King Felipe VI congratulated Nadal after the match and described him as the most important Spanish athlete of all time. Rafa had a perfect start to the season and picked up 20 wins in 21 games before breaking a rib.
Nadal returned to action in Madrid, but only picked up a few wins at Caja Magica and Foro Italico. Like so many times before, Nadal raised his level at Roland Garros, playing under fire and scoring seven wins to regain the title and extend his dominance.
Nadal beat Félix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round in five sets to get him back into the tiebreak and settle the quarter-final clash against Novak Djokovic.
Nadal won Roland Garros last week
According to Rafael Nadal, when families suffer and children die, nothing else matters, let alone the decisions of Wimbledon and ATP.
“First of all, the world of tennis sucks. When you see families and children dying and suffering, the rest doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what Wimbledon does or what the ATP does because the real thing and the real drama is that people are dying and a lot of families are suffering.
That’s the main thing, the rest doesn’t matter,” Nadal said. “The UK government has set out guidelines for sporting bodies and events in the UK with the specific aim of limiting the influence of Russia.
We have taken a long look at the available options. It’s really two options – deny entries or allow entries, but only with specific statements against invading Ukraine from individual players,” Hewitt said.
Moreover, their last clash also took place in the red earth of Paris. They locked horns in the 2022 Roland-Garros quarter-finals where, after a fierce battle, Rafael Nadal beat the defending champion in four sets and by a score of 6-2 4-6 6-2 6-7 (4).
