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sports Dialuna 6 Juni 2022

Foot pain leaves French Open champ Nadal’s future uncertain

on a foot devoid of any feel- toss, the first chants of “Ra-
ing. fa! Ra-fa!” rang out in the
“When you are playing de- 15,000-seat stadium. Ruud
fensive against Rafa on clay,” would later hear folks in the
said Ruud, a 23-year-old stands do drawn-out pro-
Norwegian who was partici- nouncements of his last
pating in his first major final, name, so it sounded as if they
“he will eat you alive.” might be booing.
Nadal said afterward he will Nadal is 14-0 in finals at Ro-
try other methods of helping land Garros, 112-3 overall.
his foot — including, even, a When this one ended with
way “to burn, a little bit, the a down-the-line backhand
nerve” — over the next week from Nadal, he chucked his
to see whether that might racket to the red clay he loves
allow him to enter Wimble- so much and covered his face
don, where he has won two with the taped-up fingers on
of his men’s-record 22 Grand both of his hands.
Slam titles. Play begins at the No man or woman ever has
All England Club on June 27. won the singles trophy at any
If these new treatments do major event more than his
not work, Nadal said, then 14 in Paris. And no man has
he will need to consider hav- won more Grand Slam titles
ing what he termed major than Nadal.
surgery — and, eventually, He is two ahead of Roger
a “decision about what’s the Federer, who hasn’t played
next step in my future.” in almost a year after a se-
“It’s obvious that with the ries of knee operations, and
circumstances that I am play- Djokovic, who missed the
ing (in),” Nadal said, “I can’t Australian Open in January
and I don’t want to keep go- because he is not vaccinated
ing.” against COVID-19.
During the trophy ceremony, For all that he has accom-
Nadal thanked his family plished already, Nadal now
and support team, including has done something he never
a doctor who accompanied managed previously: He is
him to Paris, for helping him, halfway to a calendar-year
because otherwise he would Grand Slam thanks to titles
have needed to “retire much at the Australian Open and
before.” French Open in the same
“I don’t know what can hap- season.
pen in the future,” Nadal But if he can’t play at Wim-
told the crowd, “but I’m go- bledon, which he has won
ing to keep fighting to try to twice, that doesn’t really mat-
keep going.” ter much.
He played so crisply and Ruud considers Nadal his
cleanly Sunday, accumulat- idol. He recalls watching
ing more than twice as many all of Nadal’s past finals in
winners as Ruud, 37 to 16. Paris on TV. He has trained
Nadal also committed fewer at Nadal’s tennis academy in
By HOWARD FEN- Garros.” cord, in addition to his be- unforced errors, making just Mallorca.
DRICH And so even if Nadal, a tween-point mannerisms and 16 to Ruud’s 26. After trailing They have played countless
AP Tennis Writer French Open champion for meticulous attention paid to 3-1 in the second set, Nadal practice sets together there
PARIS (AP) — Rafael the 14th time now at age 36, the must-be-just-so place- would not cede another with nothing more at stake
Nadal’s painful left foot is in obvious ways different ment of water bottles and game. than bragging rights. Nadal
was numbed by multiple from Nadal, a French Open towels: That lefty uppercut “After that moment,” Nadal usually won those, and Ruud
injections to two nerves champion for the first time of a topspin-slathered, high- said, “everything went very joked the other day that’s be-
throughout the French all the way back in 2005 at bouncing forehand still finds smooth.” cause he was trying to be a
Open, the only way he age 19, that desire to give his the mark much more fre- Sure did. polite guest.
has found to deal with a all, no matter what, to “find quently than it misses, con- The view from the other side The two had never met in
chronic condition he ac- solutions” — one of his oft- founding foes. That ability to of the net? a real match until Sunday,
knowledges puts his ten- used phrases — remains the read serves and return them “I’m just another one of the when a championship, mon-
nis future in doubt. same. with a purpose still stings. victims,” Ruud said, “that he ey, ranking points, prestige
He is the oldest champion in That never-concede-a-thing has destroyed on this court.” and a piece of history were
At any other tournament, the history of a tournament attitude propelling Nadal One of the most indelible on the line. And Nadal dem-
Nadal said, he would not that began in 1925, and his from side to side, forward memories Ruud will take onstrated, as he has so often,
have persisted through what hair is thinning on top. The and backward, speeding to, away from this day was hear- why he’s known as the King
he called such “extreme con- chartreuse T-shirt he wore and redirecting, balls off an ing the announcer recite the of Clay — and among the
ditions.” Sunday had sleeves, unlike opponent’s racket seemingly long list of years Nadal had game’s greatest ever.
Ah, but five simple words his biceps-baring look of destined to be unreachable. previously won the French “It’s something that I, for
uttered after he strung to- nearly two decades ago. The Nadal is nothing if not in- Open: 2005, 2006, 2007, sure, never believed — to be
gether the last 11 games of a white capri pants that ran be- defatigable, just as he was in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, here at 36, being competitive
6-3, 6-3, 6-0 victory over an low his knees back in the day consecutive four-hour-plus 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and again, playing in the most
overwhelmed Casper Ruud were long since traded in for victories earlier in the tour- 2020. favorite court of my career,
in Sunday’s intriguing-for- more standard shorts; Sun- nament — including against “Never stops, it seems like,” one more time in the final,”
a-handful-of-minutes final day’s were turquoise. Novak Djokovic, the defend- Ruud said. “That takes like Nadal said. “It means a lot to
at Court Philippe Chatrier Here’s what hasn’t changed ing champion and No. 1 seed half a minute.” me. Means everything.”q
explained Nadal’s mindset: along the way to his 22 Grand — and again on this after- When the players met at the
“Roland Garros is Roland Slam titles in all, another re- noon, even while competing net for the prematch coin