Rafael Nadal has advanced to the French Open men’s singles final for the 14th time in his remarkable tennis career. To date, Nadal is perfect in French Open finals as he is 13-0.
On Friday, Nadal beat reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev of Germany, 7-6, 6-6 in an odd scoreline when you consider the fact this semifinal match went three hours and 13 minutes, and the second set was not even completed because Zverev injured his ankle and could not resume. However, there were significantly long rallies and a lot of points within each game. The first set tiebreak went to Nadal with a 10-8 result.
One area where the advantage went to Nadal was with the accuracy of his serve. Nadal had only one double fault, while Zverev had eight double faults. However, one must realize Zverev was playing tennis at an exceptionally high level at the time of his injury, and could have got right back into the match with a win in the second set tiebreak. The fact that Zverev broke Nadal five times in the first two sets was a prime example of just how clearly he was reading Nadal’s serve.
Nadal’s opponent in the 2022 French Open Final will be Casper Ruud of Norway. This will be Ruud’s first ever grand slam final. In fact, he is the first Norwegian man to reach a grand slam quarterfinal according to the ATP Tour. In the semifinal on Friday, Ruud clobbered the 20th seed, and 2014 United States Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia after a slow start, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
The greatest Norwegian tennis player all-time is Molla Bjurstedt. She won four straight U.S. Opens in women’s singles from 1915 to 1918.
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