There were no empty seats on the court of Philippe Chatrier on Sunday.
And not just because everyone wanted to see the Roland Garros final and the incredible Rafael Nadal going after another Grand Slam.
The day before, information appeared that this match could be the last in his career for the "King of the Ground".
And, most likely, it is in Paris that the unique tennis era will end, where the Spaniard fought for the first line in the number of Majors won with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Last year, before the US Open, which Nadal missed due to injury, everyone expected the Serb to win this dispute.
At the end of the tournament, he was supposed to earn a calendar helmet and take the lead in the number of titles, overtaking the Spaniard and the Swiss.
Each of them by that time had 20 trophies.
However, Daniil Medvedev stopped Djokovic in the final in the most difficult match.
And then there was a scandal with the expulsion of Novak from Australia due to unwillingness to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and the Serb again lost the chance to get ahead.
However, few believed in Nadal.
He did not play for half a season due to a foot injury and had only played a couple of tournaments before that.
But Rafael played like in his best years, and reached the final, in which he was opposed by Djokovic's offender in the US Open.
Medvedev started well in that meeting, but at the last moment the Spaniard was able to seize the initiative and won his 21st Grand Slam.
Perhaps he was inspired, among other things, by the absence of psychological pressure.
In all the interviews after his return, he repeatedly repeated that he was no longer chasing titles and prize money, but longed for only one thing - to do what he loved for as long as possible, to play tennis.
At Roland Garros, to which the Spaniard again approached after a pause caused by a stress fracture of the rib and new problems with the foot, the draw brought together two world tennis legends in the quarterfinals.
And Nadal again showed why he is called the “King of the soil”.
In four games, he was not without difficulty, but he managed to cope with Djokovic and, thus, in the face-to-face confrontation, he once again turned out to be stronger on this surface.
At the same time, news began to appear that the foot was making itself felt more and more, and the athlete was training on painkillers.
This was confirmed by Raphael himself.
“This injury never goes away, but in Rome it was especially hard.
But my doctor was with me.
I don't know how to explain it in English, but we performed with a numb foot.
They injected into the nerve.
So the foot fell asleep.
Therefore, I managed to play, ”the tennis player explained.
However, after the victory over Novak, no one had any doubts about who exactly would win at Roland Garros, even with such damage.
And so it happened.
As rivals, Nadal got the eighth number of the ATP rating Kasper Ruud, with whom Rafael had never met before.
We must pay tribute to the Norwegian, he was not afraid of the titled Spaniard.
And although the first set ended with a score of 6:3 in favor of the fifth racket of the world, in many games there was a stubborn struggle.
However, Ruud's resistance ended with a 3-1 score in his favor in the second game.
After that, Nadal pulled himself together and never gave his opponent a single game again.
The Norwegian seemed to be on the court, but he was so discouraged by the actions of the Spaniard that he could not oppose anything at all.
As a result, Rafael took 11 games in a row and put an end to the match - 6:3, 6:3, 6:0.
Nadal set an incredible achievement.
Before the advent of the Big Three, Pete Sampras held the record for the most Grand Slam titles with 14 titles across all majors.
And Nadal won the same number of times only Roland Garros.
All in all, he now has 22 trophies, while Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic each have 20. It is possible that this is where the dispute between the great tennis players for the right to be considered the strongest will end.
Delivering a victory speech on the court of Philippe Chatrier, Raphael could not answer for sure whether he could continue his sports career.
“As for me, I have to thank my team, my family, everyone who helped me.
Incredible things are happening this year.
It is difficult to describe my feelings, it was a great pleasure for me to play here.
I don’t know what will happen next, but I will continue to fight no matter what happens,” said Nadal.
So far, one thing is known - the Spaniard will miss the coming months and, most likely, will not be able to take part in Wimbledon.
Together with doctors, he will look for a solution to get rid of foot pain.
Since it is impossible to perform on injections all the time.
And even if Nadal ends his sports career, which, of course, no one wants, Djokovic will need to win at least two more Grand Slam tournaments to repeat the Spaniard's achievement.
And it will be very difficult to do so.
Firstly, the Serb is also no longer young - he is 35 years old.
Secondly, it is not a fact that Novak will perform in Australia next year, where he is considered the favorite of the competition, and this is a big minus for him.
Well, we must not forget about the new generation of tennis players who are already stepping on their heels: the matured Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, as well as the young talent Carlos Alcaraz.
They have already beaten Novak on the court and will try to do it again.
As for Nadal's record at Roland Garros, he does look invincible.
Because tennis players today have become more versatile, and no one now has such an advantage on one surface or another.
A striking example is Marin Cilic.
A non-clay Croatian who won the US Open in 2014 reached the semi-finals of the French Open.
Therefore, even if Djokovic still manages to get around the Spaniard in terms of the total number of titles, the title of “King of the soil” will remain with Rafael for a long time.