“A modern day Hercules”- Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar hail Rafael Nadal on record 22 Grand Slam victory

“A modern day Hercules”- Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar hail Rafael Nadal on record 22 Grand Slam victory

Ravi Shastri, Rafael Nadal, and Sachin Tendulkar

Rafael Nadal has now 14 French Open titles and a record extending 22 Grand Slam titles to his name. Beating Casper Ruud by 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, the Spaniard has become the oldest player to win at Roland Garros on a sun-kissed court Phillippe Chatrier. Moment after the win, former Indian cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri along with tennis fans have flooded Twitter with congratulatory tweets.

Nadal is now two titles ahead of rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the all-time Grand Slam list. For two hours and 18 minutes, Nadal put on a show while Ruud struggled to gain control of his rallies, ultimately failed to find any foothold in the match. Nadal won the first set with ease and looked in complete control of the match. This match was one of the most straightforward of the ‘King of Clay’s’ 14 Roland Garros. Also this is for the first time in his career that Nadal has won the year’s first two Grand Slams. Earlier he had beaten Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling five-set clash to win Australian Open (his second victory there).

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” I never believed I would be here at 36″- Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

But Rafael Nadal also struggling with fitness issues and declared that he had chronic pain in his foot.

“If I didn’t believe, I probably wouldn’t be here,” said Nadal on Eurosport.

“I have to follow with my team, my family, everybody. It is completely amazing, the things that are happening this year. I can thank you very very much for all the things you are doing with me and did over all of the years. Without you none of this would be possible. For me personally it is very tough to describe the feelings that I have, it’s something I never believed I would be here at 36 being competitive, one more final. it means everything to keep going,” he said after his win.

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