Rafael Nadal will advance to the final game against Caspar Road as a favorite and as a complimenting colleague.
"I have immense respect for him. First of all in terms of a friend, he has a great character," the Spaniard said of the Norwegian, who has been training at his academy in Mallorca since 2018.
However, similar to the empathy he showed towards his semi-final opponent, Alexander Zebrav who was badly injured during the game and forced to retire, the bull from Mallorca does respect Rod ("he's done a lot of great things in the last two years it's no surprise he's in the final"). The next record.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Nadal is currently the Grand Slam champion with 21, having broken the tight triangle in Australia with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who stand at 20 majors each.
Nadal wants to celebrate his 22nd major today, and if that does happen, it will be the first time he has won the first two Grand Slams of the season that year.
Rafael Nadal now has his own statue at Roland Garros!
pic.twitter.com/OmzhMN0rjQ
- We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) May 27, 2021
It will be the Spaniard's 30th Grand Slam final.
So far, his success rate is 72.4 (21 wins and 8 losses), but it is not for nothing that we built a statue of him in Paris.
Of his 21 majors, Landal has 13 only at Roland Garros, with one hundred percent success in the finals in Paris.
For comparison, for his Norwegian opponent today it will be the first Grand Slam final of his career - his victory over Nadal will be considered a huge sensation.
And Amos Nadal.
In the stands in Paris will they see the 22nd of the Spaniard ?, Photo: Reuters
Nadal celebrated his 36th birthday last Friday, in parallel with the semi-final against Zebrav.
Winning his 14th Roland Garros today will set another record - the oldest winner in Paris.
After 50 years, he will leave behind his compatriot, Anders Jimano, who did so at the age of 34, in 1972. Unlike Mendel, Jimano who passed away in 2019 has won the Roland Garros only once.
And with Nadal's age already mentioned, here's another number to conclude: 13. This is the number of years separating the ornate Spaniard and the 23-year-old ambitious Norwegian.
Now it only remains to be seen what will be the next number to appear on the Grand Slam winning table: Nadal's No. 22 or Rod's No. 1.
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