PARIS / OSLO (VG) Rafael Nadal (36) has become the world’s most won tennis player with the “wrong” hand.

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When signing autographs, Nadal uses his right hand. But on the tennis court, he is known for his dreaded left arm.

Naturally, he is left-handed. It is often said that his uncle and coach over the years, Toni, forced little Rafa to switch to being left-handed. According to his uncle, it’s not that simple.

– No, that’s not true. At first, he played with two hands. I have the impression that he is stronger on the left than on the right. So I think he’s left-handed, Uncle Toni explains to Tennis Magazine, reproduced by Tennis365.

– I only advise him to use his strongest hand.

– When he was ten, I advised him to stop playing two-handed forehands, because no top player has two-handed forehands, and I can’t imagine that my nephew was the first.

Nadal trains inside the Roland Garros facility on a Saturday afternoon in the sun in Paris. About a thousand people filled the stands and watched. There may be more. People stood in line to see the pebble king. The crowd applauded enthusiastically as he delivered a fine ball.

Uncle disagrees with those who believe that being left-handed as a tennis player is an advantage.

– Just look at the world’s best players – not a lot of left-handers out there.

Rafael Nadal appeared on TV screens in white pirate pants and a sleeveless top in the early 2000s. Now he is 36 years old and playing for his 22nd Grand Slam title against Norwegian hope – Casper Ruud (23).

Never lost in a Paris final

• Nadal has won 21 of 29 Grand Slam finals – 72.4 per cent. Djokovic and Roger Federer both won 20 of 31 – 64.5 percent.
• Nadal plays his 14th French Open final on Sunday. He has never lost a final at the gravel in Paris.
• Nadal has lost just three games at Roland Garros in total – and thus has none of them in the final: 4th round against Robin Söderling in 2009 and against Novak Djokovic in 2015 (quarter-finals) and 2021 (semi-finals).
• Nadal has won a total of 21 Grand Slam tournaments. 13 of them have entered the French Open.
• He already has one more win than the duo Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – who stand to a total of 20 Grand Slam wins.
• Nadal will be playing his 30th Grand Slam final on Sunday, meaning that nearly half of his Grand Slam finals have been on gravel in Paris.
• The background is that Nadal grew up on Mallorca’s gravel courses.
• Nadal will become the oldest ever French Open winner if he beats Ruud.

After nearly 20 years at the top of tennis, Nadal is still polite at press conferences. He took a lot of time as he answered and looked straight at the person he was talking to. The 36-year-old speaks English with a very clear Spanish accent. He’s summer brown and walks around in a hat when he’s not playing tennis.

It’s actually been 17 years since Rafael Nadal first won the French Open – which was also his first Grand Slam win. Two days after turning 19, he won the final against Argentine Mariano Puerta.

Since then he has continued.

– This is a truly extreme statistic that I personally think will never be beaten. If I want to beat him, I have to win every year until I turn 36. It’s a bit surreal to think that way. It really is extreme, Casper Ruud told a news conference after it became clear he would meet Nadal in the final.

Nadal, of course, is a giant in Paris. Worthy after 13 wins. Several taxi drivers in the French capital asked VG if we had seen Nadal himself, when they saw his accreditation for the French Open hanging around his neck. His sportswear collection is sold inside the Roland Garros show shop inside the facility.

Not worry

Coach Carlos Moya denied all injuries and physical condition could be a problem for Nadal in the final against Casper Ruud.

– This is Roland Garros, and he is Rafa Nadal, said Moya according to AFP – and shows that there are two things that are interrelated.

Nadal will have a lot of fans in the stands during the final. Every time he entered the field for a new match, there was an absolutely wild level of sound of welcome roars and cheers all along the way. He had Paris behind on Sunday.

– I’d be more worried if it was a fast surface. But in the gravel not so much, because historically he has always recovered well from matches here, said Moya after Nadal spent 11 hours in his last three matches against Felix Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev (who had to give up Damage).

– I think he’s recovered well – despite his age, thought the coach.