Rafael Nadal moved up to No. 4 in the world rankings after winning the French Open for the 14th time, and his 22nd Grand Slam trophy overall.
Despite needing pain-killing injections for a chronic problem in his left foot, Nadal defeated Djokovic in the quarterfinals on his way to the final, where he defeated Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 on Sunday and became the oldest man to win the singles championship at Roland Garros, two days after his 36th birthday.
At just 19, Nadal became the youngest winner of a Grand Slam title since Michael Chang won at Roland Garros in 1989 at 17, in 2007 he became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win three successive titles at Roland Garros and in the following Nadal repeated same feat without losing a set, becoming the third man to do so in the Open era after Ilie Nastase and Borg against arch rival Roger Federer.
2010 was no different but against but against another opponent Robin Soderling, Nadal won his sixth French Open to equal the record of Borg 2011, also taking his Slam total into double figures at 10 after beating Federer in the final and in 2012 Nadal goes past Borg's record of six titles and ends Djokovic's bid to be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors.
The King of Clay schooled compatriot for an eighth French Open but the hard yards were achieved in the semi-finals when he defeated Djokovic 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 6–7, 9–7 in a 4-hour 37-minute epic.
Nadal's 22nd Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros puts him two titles ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who all have 20 Grand Slam wins. The spaniard is now the oldest men’s singles champion in French Open history breaking the mark previously set by Andres Gimeno, who was 34 years, and 10 months when he was victorious in 1972 with a 14-0 in Roland Garros final and no other man besides him has more than six titles at the tournament.
The 36-year-old has now earned at least one clay-court title in 19 consecutive years, tied for the most trophies on the ATP Tour this season with Carlos Alcaraz.
The 14th French Open title for the Spaniard meant that for the very first time in his career he holds the Australian Open and Roland Garros title in the same season and Nadal's Casper Ruud French Open final was tied for the second-most lopsided win in a major final. Nadal defeated Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0. The Spaniard lost just four games in the 2008 Roland Garros final against Roger Federer and six games in the 2017 championship match against Stan Wawrinka.
Though Nadal has won both of this year's major titles so far, including the Australian Open in January, but his ranking is hurt by his lack of activity over the past 12 months playing just two matches between the end of the 2021 French Open and the end of last season because of that foot, then missed more time this year because of that issue and a rib injury.
