amna: At the age of 36, Rafael
Nadal still making history,
secured his 22nd grand slam
title after beating Norwegian
Casper Ruud in straight sets.
Nadal has the most grand slam
titles of any male player.
He won his first title when he
was 17.
The author of "Seeing Serena,"
Gerald, welcome to "The
newshour."
Nadal has a French open final
record of 14-0.
Was it inevitable he would win
again?
Gerald: I don't think so.
He was in a tough part of it.
He would have to beat Novak
Djokovic to make the final.
And Carlos Alvarez, an amazing
teenaged Spaniard, he ended up
beating Djokovic.
We all knew he was suffering
from this chronic foot syndrome,
which he has had since the
beginning of his career.
He is just a man who has learned
to play in pain in ways that are
remarkable.
He has had a foot injury, knee
injuries, wrist injuries,
shoulder injuries.
He plays a gritty and grueling
style of tennis.
Especially on clay, which,
points tend to take longer, they
tend to grind it out.
But he is a master at it.
He is also the most willful
competitor tennis has ever seen.
Amna: This puts him in the
pantheon.
There is a debate in tennis
about the greats on the clay
court like Nadal versus the hard
court or grass champions.
Is it fair to say Nadal is the
best?
Gerald: I think we are in an era
where you have three players,
Roger Federer, rafa Nadal, Novak
Djokovic, pushing each other to
greatness and I don't think each
would be as great had the other
two not been around.
It is hard to separate.
You could say that Djokovic
tends to be both of them on hard
courts, Federer is the best on
the grass court and rafa is the
best on the clay court.
I don't know if you could have
had any one of them emerge as he
did without the others.
As others have said, it is a
golden age in men's tennis and
it is been a privilege to watch
these last 14 years.
Amna: Nadal is 36, has never
been ranked outside the top 10
since 2005.
He did say yesterday he will
keep fighting to keep going.
How much longer can he keep
going like this?
Gerald: I would not want to make
a prediction, but there will
come a time when Nadal is no
longer playing tennis.
He has said he will not take
these foot injections he
received before every match at
Roland garros the last two weeks
in order to alleviate the pain.
There was another procedure he
says he is going to have.
If that does not work, faces the
possibility of surgery.
Can you come back from surgery
in your late 30's?
I don't know.
Is that something he will want
to do?
This might have been a perfect
drop of the mic moment for him,
winning the French open, but he
says he will fight on.
He is a fighter.
Michael Jordan is the only other
athlete I have seen with it.
It is a will not to lose.
He plays every point like it is
matchpoint.
He does not want to lose.
He does not ever give up.
He has not given up.
Amna: He has not and he has been
a privilege to watch.
Thank you for joining us.
Gerald: Thanks for having me.