Rafael Nadal defeated Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the men’s 2022 French Open singles final Sunday, stretching out his record to 22 Grand Slam titles. Nadal stays undefeated in 14 title matches at Roland Garros, becoming the oldest men’s winner ever at the competition.
The Norwegian Ruud, 23, had never made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam before his spat Paris this year. Nadal won the last 11 straight rounds of the last to journey to the success.
The King of Clay has just lost three matches ever at the French Open — he’s currently 112-3 — two of them to Novak Djokovic, who he crushed in a marathon quarterfinal matchup this year. Nadal progressed to the last after Alexander Zverev retired from their firmly challenged semifinal in the second set with an injury.
Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, demonstrated that this French Open could be his last, yet that he will attempt to continue to play.
“For me personally, very difficult to describe the feelings that I have,” he said after Sunday’s win. “It’s something that I for sure didn’t believe, that I’d be here, at 36, being competitive again. Playing in the most important court of my career one more time in a final means a lot to me, it means everything.”
“I don’t know what can happen in the future but I’m going to keep fighting to try to keep going.”
Nadal, who experiences a constant physical issue in his left foot, let Eurosport know that he played with “no inclination in the foot” Sunday subsequent to getting an infusion to anesthetize it.
His record 21st Grand Slam title came recently at the Australian Open. The consecutive wins mark the initial time in Nadal’s vocation that he’s won the initial two Grand Slams of the year. In the wake of winning his most memorable Australian Open in 2009, he lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in Paris.
Topics #2022 French Open #French Open #Rafael Nadal
