Under a beautiful Paris sky, Nadal won his 14th French open title, beating Casper Ruud of Norway, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0. He’s won this tournament for the 14th time, having won all but four years(2009, 2015, 2016, 2021) since 2005 and has a record of 112-3 in that timespan. He now has his 22nd Grand Slam title, giving him insurance ahead of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who are tied at 20. Despite dealing with severe chronic foot pain that kept him out of action for the rest of the year following his semifinal loss to the eventual champion Djokovic at last years Roland Garros, and has clearly hampered him limiting his schedule this year, Nadal still reigned supreme as the king of clay defeating all valiant comers. In the sweet 16, he beat Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in a grueling five sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. He returned two days later to beat his rival Djokovic in their rematch, a four-setter that went well beyond midnight and lasted about 4:30 hours, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). In the semifinals, he grinded out a tight first set 7-6(8) over Alexander Zerev before sascha unfortunately rolled his ankle in agonoy and had to quit the match. The finals was more of a coronation for Rafa than it was a match, as he toyed with the youngster Casper Ruud playing his first final, and dispatched him 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 for more history.
As for what’s next, Nadal, who brought a doctor with him to Paris, is going to spend the next week trying new treatments, hoping to find a way to ease the pain in his foot so he can play in Wimbledon. If that were to happen, the spotlight would shift to him going for calendar slam, something that Djokovic fell a match short of last season in his US Open finals loss to Danil Medvedev.
But if he can’t play, it seems as if Nadal will retire atop the sport and his imprint permanent. But more than anything, he’ll be at peace either way knowing that at 36 years old, 20 years after he started this climb, he’s reached the top of the mountain.
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