The sand is always shifting, an ephemeral entity that tends to blow with the wind and dissolve into the passage of time. Not for Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard treads on the red dirt of Paris with an aura of certainty. The dust bowl is his monument, every step of his cast into clay, an immortal parade in an otherwise mortal world.
A sleeping foot, an upstart from Norway, and a roaring Parisienne crowd were witness to another chapter in an epic rendition that refuses to die down. Rafael Nadal has made time wait at the Roland Garros. Exactly 18 years to the date since winning his first title, the Mallorcan made light of Casper Ruud to clinch an awe-inspiring 14th French Open title, collecting his 22nd major trophy.
Winning six hard-fought five-set matches can often turn into the price of a special ticket to the Philippe Chartrier. Six men have paid this excruciating price to witness an inevitable, timeless coronation inside the iconic stadium court – Roger Federer, Robin Soderling, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Stan Wawrinka, and Dominic Thiem. Ruud joined the vanquished warriors on the wall, nailed to it by an insurmountable Nadal.
Like Federer in 2008 (6-1, 6-3, 6-0) and Djokovic in 2020 (6-0, 6-2, 7-5), Nadal offered the Norwegian a bagel to commemorate his attendance at the ceremonial final on the first Sunday of June. After 'pretending' to participate for an hour and a bit, Ruud accepted his fate with a salutary double fault to concede the second set.
After that Ruud was a mere witness to his own subjugation. Nadal raced away with methodical zeal to win the last eleven games of a complete mismatch.
Of course, Ruud does bring a punishing forehand, sharp volleys, and an imaginative use of the court and its angles. Momentarily, Ruud even mustered the courage to lead the emperor 3-1 in the second set. But none of that was tool enough to rein in the beast across his court.
The serial winner bore down on his hapless opponent with customary tenacity. As Nadal unleashed an increasingly venomous array of viciously spinning balls, Ruud could only run enough to make the coronation seem like a contest. Even though 13 years fresher in the body, Ruud’s mind could barely muster the strength needed to counter his opponent’s steely resolve.
Nadal wasn’t at his marauding best. But that did not matter. It hasn’t for much of his career. The Spaniard does not always rely on the symmetry of his game to diminish his opponents. Nadal seems to possess an inexhaustible supply of resilience in the safety of his steely heart. He draws from its infinite chambers at will to draw his opponents into a merciless battle of attrition.
In the past, Djokovic has shown us the virtue of standing up to Nadal, if you can access the skills needed to take the ball early. Even Federer appeared to draw from a similar playbook when he finally tamed Nadal in Melbourne in that glorious final of 2017. Perhaps, those tricks are not on the syllabi sheets circulated at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy.
Ruud, a student at that very academy, was playing from well behind the baseline. Nadal loves nothing more to do than press his opponents as far back as possible. It is a vantage point that allows him the full luxury of putting the tense strings to work on the ball, making it jump like a spitting cobra.
While Ruud was trying his best to stay in the hunt, Nadal remained the hunter. Even in the heart of an intense match, the Spaniard is constantly searching for marginal improvements – on his serve, off his fearful top spinning forehand and an imposing backhand. And as the match progressed, Nadal began to get faster and stronger. Ruud was learning the painful lessons that come with the wilting away in Paris, at the hands of an unrelenting Nadal.
Nadal is a maestro with the curiosity of a toddler, the patience of a camel, and the resilience of an ant. Part of his mastery is his ability to take one more step. And then another, even in the face of the steepest odds.
On Sunday, 5 June, neither the odds nor the tennis were steep for the 36-year-old warrior with a neural network hard-wired for battle.
And in this simple quest for progress lay Nadal’s secrets of hunger, longevity, and awe-inspiring success.
“It is very simple to understand for me,” Nadal explained to a curious reporter. “I don't know, sometimes for you it's a little bit different. It's not about being the best of the history. It's not about the records. It's about I like what I do. I like to play tennis. And I like the competition.”
“As I said couple of times in the past and is not a thing that I repeat, is not the thing that I don't feel for me, we achieved our dreams. Me, Roger, Novak, we achieved things that probably we never expected," he said, trying to explain that the numbers may not really matter to any of them.
“For me, what drives me to keep going is not about the competition to try to be the best or to win more Grand Slams than the others. What drives me to keep going is the passion for the game, live moments that stay inside me forever, and play in front of the best crowds in the world and the best stadiums,” added Nadal.
Ruud offered a succinct tribute to the ways of Nadal.
“I didn't know exactly where to play there in the end, and he made me run around the court too much. When you are playing defensive against Rafa on clay, he will eat you alive.”
All Ruud could do at the end of the match was smile in admiration of his mighty opponent. Just as every other person on the planet with an interest in sport. Nadal’s dominance in Paris will remain a hard feat to fathom for decades to come, but the secrets, apparently are very simple.
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