By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, June 5, 2022
Rafael Nadal rolled through 11 straight games demolishing Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 to capture his record-extending 14th RG title and 22nd Grand Slam crown.
Photo credit: Getty
The artful aggression of Rafael Nadal lives as major monument in Paris.
Today, Nadal solidified his status as iconic iron man.
More: Is This Rafa Nadal's French Farewell?
Ruling the red clay with resolve, a dynamic Nadal roared through 11 consecutive games demolishing buddy Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the French Open final to win a record-extending 14th Roland Garros crown.
Two days after celebrating his 36th birthday, Nadal stands as a champion for the ages capturing his 22nd career Grand Slam championship to become the oldest men’s champion in Roland Garros history. Nadal, who won his eighth major since celebrating his 30th birthday, surpasses fellow Spaniard Andres Gimeno, who was 34 when he ruled Roland Garros 50 years ago.
It is Nadal's most lopsided Roland Garros final triumph since he crushed Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the 2017 final.
Seventeen years to the day after a teenage Nadal, sporting a sleeveless shirt and shoulder-length hair that made him resemble a tennis Tarzan, defeated Mariano Puerta for his first Roland Garros crown he stopped an opponent 13 years younger in a commanding conquest.
"It’s amazing, much more emotional than the first time," Nadal told NBC's Maria Taylor afterward. "Completely unexpected to be where I am at this age at this stage of my career. It means everything. I have been going through tough times the last couple of time so it’s something unbelievable."
French fans were chanting “Rafa! Rafa!” in unison as Nadal raised La Coupe des Mousquetaires for the 14th time.
Passion for play continues to propel Nadal to rare tennis air: he has now won at least one clay-court championship for 19 consecutive years.
"For me personally very difficult to describe the feelings that I have. It’s something that for sure I never believed to be here at 36 being competitive again playing again in the most important court of my career one more time final means a lot to me," Nadal told the crowd. "It means everything. It means a lot of energy to try to keep going. I just want to say Merci! Merci!..."
Fans erupted for one of the biggest roars of the day when Nadal shared his future plans in his closing comment on court. The Grand Slam king vowed to fight on.
"I don’t know what can happen in the future, but I’m going to keep fighting to try to keep going so many thanks," Nadal told the appreciative crowd.
This powerful Paris triumph puts Australian Open champion Nadal two Grand Slam championships ahead of Big 3 rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who have 20 major titles apiece, and halfway to the calendar Grand Slam.
A year ago, Roland Garros unveiled a striking steel statue of Nadal whipping his trademark forehand as a tribute to the king of clay.
Today, Nadal operated like a tennis terminator overwhelming the first Norwegian men’s major finalist. Nadal carved up Ruud in baseline rallies, broke down his backhand wing and battered the man from Oslo’s serve.
Rafa's renaissance was riveting and his achievement is staggering.
The king of clay was a ruthless ruler raising his Roland Garros record to an astounding 112-3, improving to 137-3 in best-of-five-set matches contested on clay and capturing his 92nd career championship.
After absorbing a final thrashing from his friend and practice partner, Ruud paid poignant tribute to Nadal.
"We all know what a champion you are," Ruud told Nadal on court. "Today I got a chance to feel how it is to play against you in a final. It’s not easy.
"I’m not the first victim—I know there have been many before. To you Rafa, to you your team, your family, you have taken me into your academy with open arms and also to my family. So thank you a lot you are a true inspiration to me to everyone who follows tennis around the world so I hope—we all hope—you will continue with tennis for some more time."
It was a final played before Spanish and Norwegian royalty—and tennis royalty. Hall of Famers Billie Jean King, Stefan Edberg, Gustavo Kuerten and Stan Smith were all in attendance.
The fifth-seeded Spaniard wasted no time attacking Ruud’s weaker backhand wing and reaping the rewards. Rapping a heavy forehand down the line, Nadal drew the short backhand replay and thumped a couple of smashes for double break point.
On his second break point, Nadal lured the Norwegian forward and rolled a topspin forehand pass breaking in the second game.
An unsettled Nadal double faulted twice in a row and slapped a forehand into the middle of the net gifting back the break in the third game.
The 23-year-old Ruud has trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy and hit with the left-hander several times.
Facing the king of clay on Court Philippe Chatrier was an entirely different experience for the Grand Slam final debutant. Even Ruud’s favored forehand went askew in the early stages as a couple of errant forehands gave the break right back. Thirty-three minutes into the match, the man from Oslo held for the first time.
Blazing a backhand into the corner, Nadal followed it forward and nudged a drop volley for double set point. Ruud held firm for 2-5.
Sliding his serve into his opponent’s backhand, Nadal elicited a cluster of backhand return errors serving out the 49-minute opening set.
The bad news for Ruud: Nadal won 14 of 16 first-serve points setting the tone with his slider serve and stinging forehand. The worse news: Nadal owned a 17-1 record when winning the opening set of a Grand Slam final with his lone loss coming to Novak Djokovic in an epic 5 hour, 53-minute punisher at the 2012 Australian Open final.
Still, the eighth seed dug in and denied two break points holding to open the second set. Settling into longer rallies, Ruud singed the sideline with a couple of drives for triple break point in the fourth game. Seventy-two minutes into the match, Nadal pasted his third double fault into net ceding the break and a 3-1 lead.
That was Ruud’s lone lead of the day.
Working the width of the court masterfully, a ruthless Nadal rolled through four straight games, including stamping successive love holds, surging to a 5-3 second-set lead.
Credit Ruud for repelling three set points. The enormity of his task was glaring when Ruud ran around his backhand and clubbed a diagonal forehand—only to see Nadal intercept it and crack a clean forehand winner down the line for a fourth set point.
Gazing up at his father and coach, Ruud shook his head in a gesture of both frustration at this predicament and amazement at his unrelenting opponent. Ruud cracked dumping his first double fault to send the second set.
Court Philippe Chatrier offered expansive running room but no place to hide for Ruud as Nadal was chewing up rallies.
"It was tough for me to really know where I should play the ball because from both sides he has, many people have said that he kind of has two forehands because his backhand is also strong, even though it's maybe a little bit weaker," Ruud said. "On the forehand he plays with a little bit of spin and kind of feels like you're playing a right-handed forehand.
"I didn't know exactly where to play there in the end and he made me run around the court too much. When you are playing defensive against Rafa on clay, he will eat you alive. "I guess that's a little bit what happened, and I was not able to keep pushing him and making him run too much, so he was the one who were playing aggressive."
One set from a 22nd Grand Slam title, Nadal took about a seven-minute bathroom break before serving to start the third set.
The Australian Open champion broke Ruud in his opening service game of the third set then broke his will beating any shred of self-belief out of the eighth seed.
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Breaking five times in a row, Nadal finished with a flourishing banging a backhand down the line to seal Roland Garros title No. 14 in style.
The 36-year-old Nadal has turned the terre battue into a tennis mountain top. Nadal says passion for play is what still drives him to record-setting heights.
"It's not about being the best of the history. It's not about the records," Nadal said. "It's about I like what I do, you know. I like to play tennis. And I like the competition. As I said couple of times in the past, and is not a thing that I repeat, is not the thing that I don't feel for me, we achieved our dreams. Me, Roger, Novak, we achieved things that probably we never expected.
"For me, what drives me to keep going is not about the competition to try to be the best or to win more Grand Slams than the others. What drives me to keep going is the passion for the game, live moments that stays inside me forever, and play in front of the best crowds in the world and the best stadiums."