June 05, (THEWILL) – Rafael Nadal won the French Open for the 14th time on Sunday afternoon, defeating Casper Ruud 6-3 6-3 6-0.
With speculation of possible retirement swirling in the news owing to his extended injury difficulties, Nadal received an ovation he will certainly never forget as he stepped out onto Court Philippe-Chatrier, but he showed no symptoms of difficulty during his overpowering triumph in two hours and 18 minutes.
Ruud, who was playing in his first French Open final, got off to a shaky start against Nadal, whom he regards as his childhood idol. The Spaniard, though, followed up with one of his poorest service games ever at Roland-Garros. Ruud fought valiantly to get back into the match, but Nadal would go on to win the first set in 48 minutes by holding his final three service games.
Ruud broke Nadal and had a chance to take the lead, but his unforced errors began to mount as a roaring Nadal continued to apply pressure off his ferocious forehand. Despite saving three set points, Nadal took the second set after a double fault by Ruud. On the Norwegian’s serve, Nadal won yet another trophy in Paris. Nadal sealed his historic victory with a backhand winner down the line after a powerful cross-court winner gave him two championship points.
In the all-time Grand Slam battle, Nadal currently has 22 titles, two more than his great tennis rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. It is also the first time in Nadal’s career that he has won both the Australian and French Open slams in the same year.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
