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Rafael Nadal's win at the Roland Garros 2022 allowed the Spanish tennis player to further extend on Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in terms of career Slams, both still at 20, and to emphasize once more his dominance on the red clay, an area on which he has won 63 tournaments, including 14 open titles on Parisian clay-courts.
Nadal clearly imposed himself in the final against Casper Ruud with a score of 6-3 6-3 6-0 in two hours and 18 minutes of play. The Spaniard, who started in the worst possible way in a year, with Covid having hit him close to his return to the circuit after a long absence due to a foot injury, surprisingly dominated the first half of the season, winning the two slams disputed - Australian Open and Roland Garros - and also winning the tournaments in Melbourne and Acapulco, also reaching the final in Indian Wells.
The injury to his rib remedied during the American tournament kept him away from the fields for almost two months and did not allow him to get to the top of his form on his favorite surface, on which he has not won even an approaching tournament.
French slam. The umpteenth victory in Paris, however, underlined the greatness of the Manacor champion, who is now close to Djokovic in another special ranking. The one at Roland Garros is for Nadal the 59th ATP title among the main tournaments, considering the Masters 1000, ATP Finals and Olympic Games, in addition to the Majors.
The Spaniard is now only 4 titles away from the Serbian tennis player, standing at 63. Roger Federer is more detached, with his 54 titles won. Of course, with 22 Slams, two more than Federer and Djokovic, we can say at the moment Rafael Nadal is the GOAT, numbers said.
Rafa's words
The Majorcan champion expressed all his satisfaction at having returned to triumph on French soil after the success of Novak Djokovic in 2021: "It's the day to talk about Roland Garros, not 22. Having this trophy by my side again is everything.
It is an emotional success without a doubt, even an unexpected one. It has been a great two weeks. I improved from day one and managed to isolate myself from all problems to focus on tennis. All the efforts were worth it. The greatest satisfaction is personal, knowing that you are striving to achieve your goals, being certain that you have done everything possible to give your best.
I don't know how many I still have left to play. Playing the tournament here was a risk I wanted to take."
