Sport offers the impossible a chance more often than other things in life. But sport also pampers the colossal champion who has conquered all frontiers and eggs him/her on to go for more. The Rafael Nadal versus Casper Ruud French Open men’s singles final on Sunday is a script about all that, and perhaps even more.
Nadal, 36, has never lost a French Open final, winning 13 in Paris. The Spaniard, who first won the French Open at 19 in 2005, is now the oldest men’s singles finalist at Roland Garros since Bill Tilden in 1930. Nadal could now become the oldest man ever to win the title.
And who is Ruud? A 23-year-old Norwegian who became the first man from his country to reach a grand slam singles final when he outplayed Marin Cilic on Friday.
It will be the first meeting on tour for Ruud and Nadal, but they know each other well. Ruud has trained regularly at Nadal’s academy in Mallorca for several years, and Nadal has been his inspiration for his skill, sportsmanship and combative spirit.
But Ruud says he has never even won a practice set against the master.
“He’s been my idol for all my life,” said Ruud. Asked how many of Nadal’s 13 French Open finals he had watched, he replied, “probably all of them,” reeling off the names of most of his opponents.
“It might sound like an impossible task. But of course I will give it a shot like the other 13 people before me,” Ruud said. “We all know what a great champion he (Nadal) is and how well he plays in the biggest moments and the biggest matches. I’m just going to try to enjoy it. I will be the underdog, and I will try to dream about great winners and unbelievable rallies, because that’s what it’s going to take if I want to have any chance, and I will need to play my best tennis ever.”
For Nadal, tennis is a habit. “It’s about every day. No, I mean, it’s not about things that you need to prove. It’s about how much you enjoy doing what you are doing or if you don’t enjoy, then it is another story, no?
“But if you like what you are doing, you keep going... If I like to play tennis and if I can and I can handle to keep playing, I keep playing because I like what I do. So that’s it.”
Nadal, who overcame all sorts of challenges to win the Australian Open in January for his 21st grand slam title, will widen his lead over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic for the most major titles among men if he lifts the Musketeers’ Cup on Sunday. In that case, it will also be the first time the left-hander
has taken the hardcourt major in Melbourne and the Roland Garros title in the same year and would keep him in contention for a calendar grand slam.
Though he didn’t have to go beyond two sets in the semi-finals with Alexander Zverev limping out with injury, Nadal will have to dig deep to match his younger opponent’s energy on Sunday.
But it’s sport, anything is possible. It’s endurance against ambition.
Written with inputs from New York Times News Service & Reuters
Ruud wants to brag more
Ruud is proud that he has earned the right to play Rafael Nadal in a French Open final. But the Norwegian wouldn’t mind if he goes a step further.
“It’s gonna be, yeah, amazing to be there myself when you have seen... all the guys who have played him (Nadal) in a final,” Ruud told reporters on Friday.
“So to be a part of that group myself is something I can always brag about after my career. I will of course give it a shot at the title, and would be nicer to be able to brag about the title as well after my career.”
One of the most consistent performers on claycourts in the last three season, Ruud said his target at the beginning of the 2022 season was just making the quarter-finals at majors.
