Rafael Nadal will become the oldest man to win a French Open title if he beats Norway’s Kasper Rood, whose clay court talents he has personally helped.
Nadal will play his 14th Roland Garros final and 30th Grand Slam final on Sunday.
The victory will set a record 22nd Major and 14th French Open after 17 years of winning the title in Paris.
Nadal, 36, however, is so surprised that no one has gone so far.
A chronic left leg injury that has plagued him throughout his career flared up again in Rome last month, raising a serious question mark over him, even as the capital of France Too.
“Without a doubt, I would love to lose the final and have a new leg,” Nadal admitted, adding that Nadal hasn’t hidden the brutal reality that every match he plays at Roland Garros could be his last.
Despite his fears, Nadal has made an impressive appearance in Sunday’s championship match.
He needed five sets and more than four hours to see Felix Auger-Aliasime in the last 16 and four more hours to overtake Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
Alexander Zverev pushed him in the semi-finals for three hours until an ankle injury forced the German world number three to leave on crutches.
Despite the German’s bold all-or-nothing challenge, Nadal still made an impressive appearance on the court, topping the 44-shot rally at one point.
“As each round progresses, he turns into a new player,” said coach Carlos Moya.
Nadal’s record at the French Open now stands at 111 wins and just three losses. Djokovic was responsible for two of these defeats.
Nadal was only 19 when he won his first French Open in 2005.
‘the greatest’
Sunday’s win would make him the tournament’s oldest champion, surpassing compatriot Andres Gimeno, 34, who won the title 50 years ago.
The 23-year-old Rood, world number eight, is a clay court player on this Tour’s form.
Not only have seven of his eight career titles come on clay, but he has won 66 matches on the surface since 2020 and played in nine finals.
Rudd is the first Norwegian to reach a Grand Slam final.
Robin Soderling, a fellow Scandinavian, is the only other person apart from Djokovic to defeat Nadal in Paris in 2009.
Rudd has been training at Nadal’s academy in Manacor since 2018 with his father Christian, a former Top 40 player, and Spaniard Pedro Klar.
Nadal and Rudd have never met professionally, but they often hit partners in Spain, where the Norwegian admits “he beat me pretty much all the time in practice”.
“Casper has a great character to play tennis. He is very relaxed, humble. He is always in a positive mood about learning,” Nadal said.
“I think at the academy we were able to help him a little bit during this period.”
Rudd was just six years old when Nadal was crowned French Open champion for the first time and he describes the Spaniard as his “idol”.
“I can probably tell you all the finals and who he played and who he beat, because I saw them all on TV,” said the Norwegian.
“He is the greatest clay court player of all time and one of the greatest all-rounders of all time.”
Nadal’s win would give him his first Australian Open-French Open double that same year.
It would also halve him in a calendar Grand Slam, achieved only three times in history, the last being in 1969 by Rod Laver.
“I fought, I did everything possible to give myself another chance to play in the final of Roland Garros,” Nadal said.
“All the sacrifices and all the things I need to do to try to keep playing really makes sense when you enjoy the moments like I’m enjoying in this tournament.”
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