French Open final: Rafael Nadal set for last dance at Roland Garros as Casper Ruud bids to upset the odds

Is this to be au revoir or adieu? Will today’s final against Casper Ruud be Rafael Nadal’s last dance at Roland Garros?

It is his 14th final here and he is attempting to win his 14th title. If he succeeds, he will have won 22 Grand Slam titles and will pull two ahead of Novak Djokovic, the man he beat in the quarter-finals on Tuesday night. The numbers are staggering; his resilience is astounding.

Nadal turned 36 on Friday, the day he beat Alexander Zverev to book his place in today’s final. But there were no celebrations; his mood was sombre. The sickening ankle injury (gruesomely shown time and again on TV) to the German stopped the match after 3 hours and three minutes, just as they were about to start the second set tiebreak. It had been a titanic struggle until Zverev fell and screamed in agony.

Throughout the tournament, Nadal has been dropping hints as heavy as potato sacks that this could be his last French Open. The chronic foot condition that has plagued him for a lifetime is getting worse and the pain both on the court and off it is, at times, unbearable. But then he heads out on to the Court Phillipe Chatrier and wins another match. What he says and what he does seem worlds apart.

It was the same at the start of the year. He arrived in Australia uncertain of what to expect. He said that until a couple of weeks before, he did not think he would be able to make the trip Down Under. And then four weeks later, he boarded his flight home with another tour title and the Australian Open trophy in his grasp.

Although they have never played before, Nadal knows all about Ruud. The Norwegian world No.8 is the most consistent player of the past 12 months, a spell in which he has won seven titles, six of them on clay. He also trains at Nadal’s academy in Mallorca – there are not many secrets between the two men.

“I have a huge respect for him,” Nadal said. “First of all, in terms of a friend, he has a great character. He's a great guy, and he has a great family. Honestly. That's the main thing. As a player, of course, I respect a lot him. He did a lot of great things the last couple of years. His ranking speaks for itself.”

But this is Ruud’s first grand slam final and Nadal’s 30th. The Spaniard knows all there is to know about the business end of major events. The only real concern will be the conditions: there are thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon. If the roof is shut, the humidity builds and the balls fluff up. And Nadal sweats buckets. That was the case on Friday and until Zverev turned his ankle, the battle had been brutal.

Rafael Nadal during his French Open semi-final win over Alexander Zverev, who retired due to injury. (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty Images)

“If we have big humidity under the roof, the ball is super big and difficult to create a spin on the ball,” he said. “That's why I was not able to create the damage that I wanted against Sascha.”

The crowd will want only one result – the 15,000 in the stands have been cheering Nadal’s every move for the past two weeks. And if this is to be “adieu”, those 15,000 Parisians will hope against hope that they are waving farewell to the 14-time French Open champion. The odds suggest they will.