PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 03: Rafa Nadal of Spain celebrates a set point against Alexander Zverev of Germany during the Men's Singles Semi Finals match on Day 12 of The 2022 French Open at Roland Garros on June 3, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Spain’s Rafael Nadal won a record-extending 14th title by beating Norway’s Casper Ruud in straight sets on Sunday.
The 36-year-old won 6-3 6-3 6-0 against eighth seed Ruud to also extend his record number of Grand Slam men’s singles titles to 22. No other player in men’s tennis history has more than nine major titles at any single major location.
The spaniard, who lost to Djokovic in the semi-finals last year, moves two ahead of his great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic
Ruud was the first Norwegian to reach a Grand Slam final, but he couldn’t keep up with Nadal during the championship at Roland Garros.
Nadal was quick to shut down any suggestion of being motivated to end his career with more majors than Federer and Djokovic, who have both triumphed at 20 grand slams.
He said, “It’s very simple to understand for me. I don’t know, sometimes for you (the media) 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.
“We achieved our dreams — me, Roger, Novak. We achieved things that probably we never expected.
“For me, what drives me to keep going is not the competition to try to be the best, to win more grand slams than the others.”
