The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal has enlarged his legend this Sunday by winning his fourteenth Roland Garros title. The Majorcan tennis player, who has just turned 36, has a total of 22 Grand Slams and is two away from Serbian Novak Djokovic as the tennis player with the most greats in history.
On the Philippe Chatrier court at Roland Garros, his favorite court, where he has achieved his greatest achievements, Nadal authoritatively beat Norwegian Casper Ruud, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0, in 2 hours and 18 minutes.
The first to surrender to the talent of the Spaniard was his rival in the final, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who was part of the academy that Nadal founded in his native Mallorca. “It is true that he is 36 and getting old, like everyone else. I prefer to play against him today than when he was 22 (…) His foot problem is his Achilles heel, it makes him vulnerable, and you think that any Anything can happen, like it happened with Sasha (Zverev’s sprained ankle against Nadal), but it’s incredible how he has forgotten about his foot and continues to play very well,” admits the 23-year-old.
“I will remember this final for the rest of my career, I had seen it on TV in the last 16, 17 years and now seeing myself in a final is a pleasure (…) I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I played against Rafa in the Chatrier”, he concluded.
The official account of the tournament has been surrendered to Spanish with an epic image of the athlete, the 14 titles he has won in Paris and the word “Rafa-Garros”. They have also congratulated him from the ATP account or colleagues such as the Argentine Juan Martín del Potro: “Impressive @RafaelNadal!!! What a great champion, a great example of everything!!! Congratulations ????”. Carlos Alcaraz is another of the tennis players who has surrendered to Manacor: “Simply incredible @RafaelNadal
! ????x14 @rolandgarros ???????? CONGRATULATIONS!
From the Spanish Olympic Committee they have appealed to the tennis player’s spirit of overcoming, highlighting one of the phrases of his speech on the track Philippe Chatrier: “I’m going to keep trying”.
This new feat of the Balearic Islands has been praised by colleagues, politicians and personalities from all areas, who have joined in congratulating the tennis player. Among them the Royal House or the President of the Government. “The 14th in Paris!!! Unrepeatable @RafaelNadal
King Felipe VI has spoken before the Eurosport cameras assessing the important triumph of the Spanish tennis player: “Few are as competitive as Rafa Nadal. When you get a goal in your head it’s hard to get away from it. We know that he has a foot problem, but it has been incredible how he has competed. The agonizing match against Djokovic, poor Zverev’s injury… Rafa deserves this. It is a joy to watch him play and compete. 14 Roland Garros titles and 22 Grand Slam, what a barbarity!
Between shouts of “Long live the King” and “Long live Spain” from the public, the monarch has added that he hopes that the tennis player’s left foot will allow him to continue competing for longer. “Of course you can see how much he wins,” said the Spanish Head of State, who congratulated Nadal on the court after he authoritatively beat Norwegian Casper Ruud in three sets. “I have congratulated him, I have told him thank you and how wonderful. Obviously he is seen as saying I had a bad time, this is a great personal triumph”.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has also joined the congratulations through social networks with a message in which he refers to the athlete’s successes: “The best tennis player in history is called Rafa Nadal, he is Spanish and He has just won his 14th Roland Garros. Congratulations Rafa Nadal!”
Real Madrid has been one of the first to congratulate the tennis player, as well as several of its players such as Marco Asensio, Vinícius, Courtois, Valverde or Modric. “Congratulations on a new historical feat, @RafaelNadal . It is an honor to enjoy a great madridista and honorary member of Real Madrid as the best tennis player of all time. Congratulations on your 22nd Grand Slam, the 14th @rolandgarros, without a doubt a magic number in this 2022”, wrote the white entity on Twitter. Later, he has shared another publication in which he compares Nadal’s 14 Roland Garros titles with the 14 Champions of the men’s soccer team.
The congratulations have gone beyond football. The Olympic badminton champion Carolina Marín has also surrendered to Nadal: “Come, vidi, vinci Rafa Nadal. Let’s enjoy this because we will never see anything like it.” The Catalan pilot Marc Márquez or the basketball player Rudy Fernández have also done it.
Such magnitude has the feat of the Mallorcan that he has even received congratulations from the singer Sebastian Yatra, the Civil Guard or the National Police.
