French Open 2022: Casper Ruud prepares to face Rafael Nadal in Roland-Garros final – ‘My idol all my life’

Casper Ruud praised his French Open final opponent Rafael Nadal as ‘perfect’ and the man who had ‘been my idol all my life’.

The 23-year-old Norwegian fell one set behind against Marin Cilic in his first Grand Slam semi-final but recovered to win in four sets.

The victory means that Ruud will face the 36-year-old former world No. 1 on Sunday in the final at Roland-Garros.

Ruud discussed Sunday’s opponent, Nadal, whose Mallorca academy he moved to in 2018.

With his measured response to initially going behind, and then holding off the pressure at the match’s denouement, the youngster held up Nadal as an example to follow.

“I guess I have worked on it [staying in control of emotions] because when I was younger I was a bit of a cry baby, I cried too much and was also too negative so I grew up a little bit and matured over the years,” he said.

“I looked up to Rafa, the player I will play in the final, and he never complains. He is a perfect example of how you should behave on court. He never gives up and never complains so he has been my idol all my life.”

Asked of his connection to Nadal, he acknowledged the resonance, saying: “Yeah, it’s amazing when you say it like this. He is the last player of the big three and one of the players I have never played against so I guess it’s worth the wait to finally play him in a Grand Slam final will be a special moment for me, I hope for him as well.

“He has played so many finals, so at least he is playing a student from his academy this time so it’s going to be a fun one hopefully.”

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