News : Tennis: Rafael Nadal wins the French Open – Sport

At 6:11 pm, after two weeks of tennis, after surprises and disappointments, after win-outs and outsider defeats, a final question arose: would he throw himself back? As he had always done in Paris? Would he drop the bat, tumble on his back like a bug, stretch out all fours? Or dare something new? Just rip open your shirt so the world could finally see that Rafael is really flesh and blood when playing clay ping pong?

Then the serve. Second match ball. Return Dominic Thiem. The ball is in short supply. 6: 3, 5: 7, 6: 1, 6: 1. Nadal? Purzelt on the back like a beetle. Stretches all fours. Of course, he also drops the bat.

Rafael Nadal, 33, professional tennis player, can not escape his skin. When he comes to Roland Garros, once a year, he always has to win. And always in the same way terre battue sink down. Always, always, always.

And since a few years have passed since his first triumph at the French Open in 2005, the Spaniard from Mallorca has logically reached a high number. Twelve times he was in the final. He won twelve times. This leaves Nadal Margaret Court suspended in the category "most victories in a Grand Slam tournament"; the now controversial because of their obscure social attitudes Australian won 11 times at the Australian Open. And Nadal has also left Roger Federer behind in terms of the number of finals reached. The Swiss has so far eleven finals appearances in Wimbledon (eight titles). With 18 Grand Slam titles, Nadal, who cashed in for the success in Paris 2.3 million euros, except for two at Federer (20) approached.

"I feel with Dominic," says Nadal about his opponent

"Incroyable", unbelievable, that was the word that Nadal used the most at the awards ceremony. "I feel with Dominic," he said, emphasizing what a hard worker the Austrian was and, above all, what a good person. Then he flunked: "It's hard to lose a final." In Paris you have to at least say: How should Nadal know? After all, you do not have to doubt how he felt in the face of those dozen French Open trophies: "That's a special moment." And again: "Incroyable." The R he rolled it wonderfully.

After all, the first two sentences were open. The first rallies started with yelling. It was just 15:15 at Serve Nadal, because his next serve was delayed - but not this time, because he grabbed 700 times as usual on his clothes. A baby howled. The unrest increased, some laughed, some made "sch!". It was a tense atmosphere that was noticeably different from matches in the first or third round. The spectators were in a Hab-Acht position. Would Thiem, number four in the world, achieve his first Grand Slam title?

The two players faced each other for the second time after 2018 in the main final on clay. Last year, Nadal Thiem had missed an abortion, 6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 2. He learned a lot from this defeat, Thiem said. However, he had to cope with one disadvantage: Nadal had already successfully completed his semi-final against Federer in three sets on Friday. Thiem's ​​duel with world number one leader Novak Djokovic had been broken off in the third set. There was some speculation as to whether the Serb, who had already pouted the wind in the first sentence and complained to the supervisor, had put pressure on during a game break. But the story did not really break up. But since Thiem had to go over a full five sets on Saturday, he had much less time to regenerate than Nadal. That was one factor above all, because Thiem's ​​game lives on a lot of energy.

When Thiem made the break to 3-2, it was a moment when there was even more crackling in the Court Philippe Chatrier. Was there anything possible against the bulldozer Nadal? The reaction followed immediately: Thiem should make no play in the first set.