After a one year break, the “King of Clay” rules again in Paris.
Rafael Nadal won his 14th title at the French open by beating Casper Ruud from Norway (6-3, 6-3, 6-0).
Nadal dominated the final game on Sunday. He won 11 games in a row and got his 22nd grand slam title. Nadal has 2 more grand slam titles than Roger Feder and Novak Djokovic. They are at the top of the men’s all-time best list.
Nadal won his first French Open title 17 years ago, in 2005. He is 36 years old now. The oldest man to win the French Open.
Nadal says it’s very hard to describe his feelings. He can’t believe that he’s 36 years old and still competitive. He’s very proud of that.
The game on Sunday was a unique situation. Ruud has been training at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain since 2018, and always admired Nadal. Sunday’s game against Nadal was Ruud’s first grand slam title and his first time playing against Nadal.
Ruud, who is 23 years old, led Nadal 3-1 at the start of the second set. However, Ruud was not able to win the game.
After the match, Ruud did an interview on the tennis court. He said that everyone knows Nadal is a champion. He was able to experience playing against Nadal in a final, and it’s not easy.
At last year’s French Open (2021), Djokovic beat Nadal in the semifinals. Before that, Nadal had won 4 French Open titles.
This year, Nadal beat Djokovic in the quarter finals, and then beat Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
The French Open title comes after winning the Australian Open in January this year (2022). It’s the first time Nadal has won the first two grand slams of the year.
Nadal started strong in the final on Sunday. He won the first set 4-1. At the start of the second set, Nadal made mistakes and Ruud did well. Nadal had a foot injury before the tournament, but he was able to move OK during the tournament. In the second set, Nadal started to play better again.
The third set was only 30 minutes long. Ruud couldn’t do anything, Nadal was too good.
Nadal says he doesn’t know about the future, but he will try to keep playing.
Vocabulary
- to rule -to have power over, to be in control of something
- title – the position of being a champion in sports
- beat – to defeat someone in a game, to win a game against someone
- dominate – to have strong power over, to be too powerful
- in a row – one after the other, in a line, in succession
- all-time – often, frequently, for a long period of time, since the beginning
- competitive – to be as good as or better than others, to perform equally well or better than others
- proud – to feel good or be happy about what you do, appreciate your achievements
- unique – special, the only one, not like others
- admire – to respect, to look at something and feel good
- lead (led) – to be winning, to have an advantage in score
- interview – a meeting where one person asks another person questions
- make a mistake – to do something wrong, to do something that was not intended, an accident
- injury – your body is damaged or broken, something is wrong with your body, to have pain
Please find the original story from CNN below:
