Rafael Nadal has a chance to do something special on Sunday, as he will try to win his 14th Roland Garros trophy and his 22nd Grand Slam overall.
Nadal leads the conversation about being the best player of all time, and while some might argue against that, almost nobody would dare to argue that he’s not the best player ever on clay.
The sheer amount of dominance he has achieved at the French Open over the years is proof of that. The Spaniard has a chance to now add to that legacy by playing yet another final on Sunday.
It will be a chance for him to win his 14th Roland Garros trophy, which is the most any player has ever won at any Grand Slam. No player dominated more in Paris than Nadal and no player basically dominated ever at any kind of event either.
That’s tremendous and iconic in many different ways. To find himself in the final of that event, Nadal overcame Alexander Zverev, even though not in the way he had hoped.
The German injured himself badly in that match which forced him to retire from the match, sending Nadal directly into the final. What made that day so special for Nadal was the fact that it was his birthday.
He turned 36 on that day and made the final, albeit in a way that he didn’t really want to. When it comes to how that day went, well, there is a video that showed exactly what Nadal did on that day.
He had a practice at 10:30 a.m, during which he said a few words to the camera.
"Playing the semifinals here at Roland Garros means a lot to me. If I'm not playing good or if I'm losing in that semifinal match, it's not going to be because I'm not going to be focused."
He then had a gym session at noon, started playing at around 3 p.m., and stopped at around 6 p.m. when Zverev injured himself.