For the incomparable Nadal.
He is the man of all records at Roland-Garros: 111 wins in 114 matches (1 withdrawal);
13 titles (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).
Phew!
At just 36 years old, the legendary Spaniard will experience his 14th final in Paris this Sunday.
Last stage of a tournament that saw him go through all the colors (a match in 5 hard-fought sets against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 16; an epic quarter-final completed at 1:15 a.m. in the quarter-finals against Novak Djokovic, before a torrid semi-final against Alexander Zverev, a standoff cut short by the injury and the abandonment of the German).
Nadal is where he wanted to be.
Facing his legend.
To discover
Roland Garros men's singles
Roland Garros single ladies
For the neophyte Casper Ruud.
The Norwegian (23 years old; 8th in the world) will experience his first Grand Slam final.
He dropped a set against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the young retiree (1st round), two against the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (3rd round), one against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz in the round of 16, one against the Dane Holger Rune in the quarters finals and one in the semi-finals against the experienced Croatian Marin Cilic.
He touches his dream.
For a first face-to-face.
They have never met on the circuit but they know each other by heart.
Fan of Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud is used to attending the Spaniard's academy.
“
We trained a few rounds in Mallorca.
So I saw him out of the circuit.
He almost always beat me.
Sometimes we were at 7-6, 7-5, but that's because we play at the academy, I want to be nice to Rafa, I give him these sets willingly
, "laughed the first Norwegian in history in the Grand Slam final.
For clay court specialists.
Rafael Nadal is the man of all records at Roland-Garros.
Casper Ruud is the player who has won the most matches on clay since 2020. Facing the challenge, the Norwegian summarizes: "
Playing in the final against Rafa at Roland-Garros is surely the biggest challenge to take up in this sport.
He has already won 13 times at Roland-Garros, it seems absolutely impossible, but I will try;
I will try as the thirteen others before me tried to do against him.
Of course, it will be very difficult.
We all know he is a great champion and when the level is high he elevates his game even more. I will try to take advantage of that.
I have nothing to lose.
»
The final highlight.
The edition was not stingy with emotions.
The men's tournament carefully followed the phenomena Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune (19), saw the premature disappearance of Stefanos Tsitsipas, the finalist of the year 2021 and accompanied the return to the fore of a very enterprising Marin Cilic.
The final, disputed or one-sided will conclude an intense fortnight.
Day and night.
The biggest surprises in the history of Roland-Garros
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