‘He is a fighter’: Rafael Nadal makes history with his 22nd Grand Slam tennis title

Amna Nawaz:

Well, at the age of 36, Rafael Nadal still making history.

Nadal won his 14th French Open championship yesterday and secured his 22nd Grand Slam title, after defeating Norwegian Casper Ruud in straight sets. Nadal now has the most Grand Slam titles of any male player. And he's the oldest man to win a French Open. He won his first title in Paris when he was just 19.

Some perspective now on Nadal's career.

Gerald Marzorati covers tennis for "The New Yorker," and he's the author of the book "Seeing Serena," which is available in paperback next week.

Gerald, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thanks for joining us.

So, Nadal now has a French Open final record of 14-0. Going into this last one, though, how are you looking at it? Was it inevitable he would win again?

Gerald Marzorati, Author, "Seeing Serena": Well, I don't think so.

He was in a very, very tough part of the draw. He was going to have to beat Novak Djokovic to reach the final and Carlos Alcaraz, this amazing young teenage Spaniard, very Nadal-like himself. He ended up playing and beating Djokovic. And we all knew that he was suffering from this chronic foot syndrome he has, Mueller-Weiss Syndrome, which he's actually had since he was — since his — beginning of his career, really.

And he's just a man who has learned to play in pain in ways that it's just remarkable. I mean, he's had this foot injury. He's had knee injuries. He's had wrist injuries. He's had shoulder injuries. And he plays a very gritty and grueling style of tennis, especially on clay, which points tend to take longer.

They tend to have to be grinded out. But he's a master at it. He's just a master at it. And he's also just the most willful competitor tennis has ever seen.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, this clearly puts them in the pantheon, right?

But now, as you just mentioned, there is this debate in tennis about the greats on the clay court, like Nadal, vs. the greats on grass courts or hard court champions.

Gerald Marzorati:

Right.

Amna Nawaz:

So what do you think? Is it fair to say Nadal is the best?

Gerald Marzorati:

Yes, I have to say what I think is that we are in an era where you have had these three players, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, pushing one another to greatness.

I don't know that any of them would have been as great a player had the other two not been around. And so it's hard to separate. You can break down that Djokovic tends to beat both of them on hard courts, Federer the best grass court player, Rafa the best clay court player the sport has ever known on the men's side.

So — but I don't know if you could have had any one of them emerge as he did without the others. So, it's really — as others have said, it's a golden age of men's tennis, and it's just been a privilege to watch it these last dozen, 14 years.

Amna Nawaz:

So Nadal is 36. He has never been ranked outside the top 10 since that 2005 championship he won in Paris back when he was 19.

He did say yesterday: "I will keep fighting to keep on going," right?

But what is ahead? I mean, how much longer can he keep going like this?

Gerald Marzorati:

Yes, I would not want to make a prediction about that.

There will come a time when Rafael Nadal is no longer playing tennis. He has said he will not take these foot injections, which he received before every match at Roland-Garros the last two weeks, in order to alleviate the pain. He — there's another procedure he says he's going to have.

Then, if that procedure doesn't work, he faces the possibility of surgery. Can you come back from surgery in your late 30s? I don't know. Is that something that he's going to want to do? But he has not — this might have been a perfect drop the mic moment for him, winning this — the French Open, but he didn't — that isn't what he did. He says he's going to fight on.

And he is a fighter. He has that — Michael Jordan, honestly, is the only other athlete I have ever seen with. It's a will not to lose. He plays every point like it's match point, and it's a will not to lose. He doesn't want to lose. And he doesn't ever, ever give up. And he hasn't given up.

Amna Nawaz:

He has not. He has not. And he has been a privilege to watch.

That is Gerald Marzorati, who covers tennis for "The New Yorker," joining us tonight.

Thank you so much.

Gerald Marzorati:

Thanks for having me.