Rafael Nadal won the Roland Garros Cup for the 14th time.

On May 22, on the courts of Philippe Chatrier, the best tennis players in the world came together in a battle for the champion title. By the way, Roland Garros is one of the oldest tournaments: it was first held in 191.

121 years later, it still draws thousands of fans in the stands and millions of fans in front of television screens. Betting on tennis at the time of the tournament leads in popularity among individual sports.

Highlights of the French Open Tennis Championship

Tennis is one of the most spectacular and emotional sports. But this season, the events taking place on the court have surpassed even the wildest expectations.
Rafael Nadal had a tough time this year: despite serious problems with his leg, he still made a strong decision and turned up at the tournament as a player. Four of the world’s top 10 tennis players stood in his way to the cup.
It is worth noting that Rafael Nadal became the third player in the history of tennis to beat four star players in a row. Apart from the Spaniard, Mats Wilander did the same feat in 1982 and Novak Djokovic in 2017 at the Australian Open Championship.
In the quarter-finals, the talented Felix Auger-Aliassime found himself on the other side of the net. Remarkably, the young tennis player is coached by Rafael’s uncle, Tony Nadal. For the injured Rafael, this task proved to be quite difficult. Almost the whole match went without any obvious advantage for one of the players. However, the Spaniard still managed to turn things around and win 3-6; 6-3; 6-2; 3-6; 6-3.
The next opponent was Novak Djokovic, the number one and winner of 20 Grand Slam tournaments. The Serbian is regarded as one of the best tennis players in the world. On 31 May, the fans in the stands took turns holding their breath with overwhelming emotion. The match turned out to be an unusually entertaining and intense affair. But the King of the Grounds managed to leave his opponent behind, finishing the game with a score of 2-6; 6-4; 2-6; 6-7.
Alexander Zverev in the semi-final was unable to see the game through to the end. In the second set, he awkwardly reached for the ball with his racket and sprained his leg. The German player left the court with the help of the medical staff. And after the final came out on crutches to congratulate his colleague on another title.

Tournament debutant Casper Ruud

Kasper is a talented and hard-working student of the Nadal academy. Since 2018, he has won 90 matches on the ground.
Ruud has made a great showing at Roland Garros this year. In the semi-finals, the Norwegian faced another debutant of the tournament, Marin Cilic. From the first set, the 33-year-old Croatian took matters into his own hands and opened the scoring. But Ruud was not so easy either, going three sets in a row in his favour.
The semi-final match was interrupted by an unforeseen circumstance: a girl ran out to the court and handcuffed herself to the net. It later transpired that she was trying to raise public awareness of global environmental issues in this way. After the activist was removed from the court, play resumed as usual.

Nadal-Ruud final game

Unfortunately, the final game was fundamentally different from the dynamics and emotions of the whole tournament. The favourite was known in advance: Casper Ruud, in his pre-match interview, once again expressed his respect for the legendary tennis player. The only thing he hoped for was a mutual interest in each other’s play.

It was the first meeting of Ruut’d professional career with the legendary Nadal. Sports betting fans were offered a wide range of bets on the closing match: victory with handicaps, game totals and a clean win for one of the players. By the way, a bet could be placed on the debutant’s victory at odds close to 5.

The final match took 2 hours and 20 minutes. In the 2nd set the Norwegian even managed to increase the lead to 3-1. However, for the most part, Casper missed opportunities to take the lead and was blatantly unable to keep up with his opponent’s pace. Even with Rafael’s injuries, the match didn’t last long and went into three sets 6-3; 6-3; 6-0.

The physical condition of the champion

According to statistics, Nadal was third on the list of candidates to win this year’s Roland Garros. Carlos Alcaraz and Djokovic were also in the top three. Rafael Nadal, at 36, has suffered a myriad of injuries: sprains, dislocations, inflamed tendons and fractures.
Such a situation could not but affect the tennis player’s general health. The Spaniard often takes long breaks to recover from some kind of injury.
Here at Philippe Chatrier’s courts, Nadal played under the influence of strong painkillers. He is always accompanied by a whole team of top-class physiotherapists and masseurs. And with some of them he has become real friends.
In the year of his big tennis debut, the young Nadal complained of persistent pain in his leg. After a long examination, the athlete was diagnosed with a bone ailment that simply ruled out a career in sport.
The young man lost his bearings in life and plunged into a deep depression. His uncle Tony Nadal, who had always been very kind to his nephew, helped him to regain his confidence.
The Spaniard’s road to victory was not an easy one. Nadal spent almost all the important games on analgesics. There are still many rumours about the tennis player’s possible “unsportsmanlike” behaviour. Peers, politicians and even service personnel have accused him of abusing pharmaceuticals.
In 2016, the former French sports minister’s remarks on TV provoked Rafael to hire lawyers and sue for defamation. In this way, he closed the subject once and for all and also received monetary compensation for moral damages.
In 18 years on the court, Nadal has learned to cope with constant pain and restricted movement:
prefers to play only on the ground;
has pretty much given up on playing the ATP 250 and 500 series;
uses aggressive tactics with a minimum of blows.
Rafael Nadal has already confirmed his participation in Wimbledon. The legend has a battle on grass for the Calendar Slam ahead. The Spaniard is not wasting any time and is actively preparing for the upcoming tournament.