Rafael Nadal won the 2022 French Open with a foot injury but his victory was made all the more monumental by comments from beaten finalist Casper Ruud.
This season was the last competitive year of the great Spaniard’s career as injuries took their toll from 2023, when he missed almost the entire season.
He has played sparingly in 2024 and Nadal will retire from professional tennis after November’s Davis Cup finals.
2022 was certainly a special year for Nadal, as he claimed his final two Grand Slams, but his 14th title at Roland Garros came at an even greater cost than anyone realised at the time.
Every word of Casper Ruud’s conversation with John Isner about Rafael Nadal’s 2022 French Open victory
Casper Ruud appeared on the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast and discussed his 2022 French Open final defeat to Rafael Nadal with Sam Querrey, Jack Sock and Steve Johnson.
Competing in his first Grand Slam final, Ruud’s belief soon faded and he was comprehensively beaten 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 by Nadal, who won his 22nd and final Grand Slam championship.
It is well documented that Nadal played at Roland Garros with a foot injury, the same problem which flared up during the Rome Masters in his defeat to Denis Shapovalov prior to the clay court Grand Slam.
But Ruud has since opened up on how serious the problem was, which made Nadal’s run to the French Open title all the more remarkable.
John Isner: Did you have belief that you could beat him?
Casper Ruud: Yes, but only because he was basically on one foot. He had withdrawn from Rome the week before and had lost to Shapo. He couldn’t walk at the end of the match and then he was in Majorca, nobody really knew and then he was open that he was still struggling and needed to take painkillers. He even had his doctor inject anesthetic so his foot was like asleep for eight hours.
I met him the day after at the airport and he was on crutches, he couldn’t walk to board a plane. It was pretty crazy. But when we started the match the belief went away after a few hours. Anything could happen, he could fall or break his leg but when you are down 2-0 in the final with Rafa, what belief is left?
Isner: You saw Rafa the day after the French Open final and he was on crutches? So he didn’t get the local shot that day?
Ruud: Not that day. He was fed up with his doctor shooting him with injections, so he was on crutches.
Isner: Oh my goodness! That is incredible!
Ruud: He was on crutches. I’m not sure if he had a cast but he couldn’t put weight on his foot. That’s what, 24 hours later?
Sam Querrey: That almost makes it worse. If I lost to a guy in the final and saw him on crutches the next day I think I would put my head down.
Steve Johnson: No! You have to go the other way. He is willing to die out there to beat me!
Jack Sock: It’s why he’s the greatest competitor in the history of sport.
Ruud: That was the year he played Zverev and they played for three hours and he did not even finish the second set until Zverev broke his ankle, so imagine – and this is a big if – but imagine they went five hours plus and Rafa ended up winning. Not sure if even the anesthetic would have worked for the final!
How many times has Casper Ruud played Rafael Nadal?
The 2022 French Open final marked the first time that Nadal played an ATP Tour match against Rudd.
They pair only played on one more occasion, which took place at that year’s ATP Finals in Turin.
Nadal was far from his best at this tournament as he struggled with his fitness towards the end of the 2022 campaign.
Therefore Rudd, who also made that year’s US Open final, was in a better position to defeat the tennis icon than he was in Paris earlier in the year, as far as form was concerned.
Though this was a much closer contest, it was Nadal who recorded a 7-5, 7-5 victory, in what will now go down as the last ATP Finals match of his illustrious career.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
