Ce dimanche 5 juin 2022, Rafael Nadal s’est imposé en trois sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-0) face au Norvégien Casper Ruud en finale du Grand Chelem parisien. Avec cette 14e victoire à Paris, l’Espagnol de 36 ans écrit une nouvelle page de l’histoire, et ce, malgré ses blessures.
So far, no one has been able to stop Rafael Nadal from winning the final at Roland Garros. Roger Federer (four times), Novak Djokovic (three times), Dominic Thiem (twice), Mariano Puerta, Robin Söderling, David Ferrer and Stan Wawrinka have all failed. Casper Ruud, 23 years old, has not been successful either.
Like the others, he gave up in the final of this 2022 edition.
However, the world number 8 had some reason to be hopeful for his first Grand Slam final. His opponent has been suffering from multiple ailments for years, including the Müller-Weiss syndrome that causes chronic pain in his left foot and handicaps him greatly. The Spaniard, who just blew out his 36th candle, also became the oldest winner in the history of the tournament, since André Gimeno in 1972, aged 34.
Is the Spanish champion about to end his career? He admitted on Sunday after his 14th title at Roland Garros that he could not continue playing with the syndrome that causes him significant pain in his foot. He added that he had no intention of trying to do so if no permanent solution is found.
“As I said before, in the current circumstances, I can not and I do not want to continue to play,” he said at a press conference, explaining that during the French Open he had undergone “several injections before each match” to numb his painful nerves.
A lightning final
The loss of the second set to the Spaniard (6-3) hurt Casper Ruud a lot. From then on, there was no more match between the boss of the place and the Norwegian. Rafael Nadal, imperial, folded the case in a flash (6-0) to sign a 14th title on the Parisian clay.
He won in two hours and 18 minutes on Sunday.
With Sunday’s victory, Nadal has now won 22 Grand Slam titles, two tournaments ahead of his old rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
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