Rafael Nadal to meet newcomer Casper Ruud in French Open final

Rafael Nadal truly has nothing more to do to make clear his greatness on a tennis court. The 21 Grand Slam titles. The 13 championships on the red clay of the French Open alone.

That’s not to say he doesn’t want to achieve more, of course. Still, it’s not why he is still out there, at age 36, bothered by chronic pain that flares up in his left foot every so often, and ready to face 23-year-old Casper Ruud of Norway in the men’s final at Roland Garros on Sunday.

“It’s not about things that you need to prove. It’s about how much you enjoy doing what you are doing — or, if you don’t enjoy, then it’s another story,” said Nadal, who advanced when his semifinal opponent, third-seeded Alexander Zverev, needed to stop playing late in the second set after hurting his right ankle.

 “But if you like what you are doing, you keep going. ... I keep playing because I like what I do. So that’s it,” Nadal continued. “Of course I enjoy (it). And if I am healthy enough to play, I like the competition, honestly.” Nadal, whose birthday was Friday, is the second-oldest man to get to the title match in Paris; Don Budge was 37 when he was the runner-up in 1930. The oldest champion in tournament history was Andres Gimeno, 34 when he won in 1972.

“I like to play in the best stadiums of the world and feel myself, at my age, still competitive. Means a lot to me.” Nadal said. “That makes me feel in some way proud and happy about all the work that we did.” While he is not showing any obvious signs of slowing, the past year or so has not been easy.

Nadal sat out most of the last half of 2021 — missing Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and the U.S. Open — because of his foot problem. He was able to win the Australian Open in January to break a three-way