Rafael Nadal is having a dream 2022 season. Earlier this year, he won the Australian Open title. He defeated Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling summit clash to lift his 21st Grand Slam title. Subsequently, he followed it up by winning the title in Acapulco. In the recently concluded French Open, the Spaniard defeated Casper Ruud in the finals to prove yet again why he is the ‘King of Clay.’

It was a dominating performance by the 36-year-old to breeze past the Norwegian in straight sets. As Nadal lifted his 14th French Open title, he received massive praises from across the tennis fraternity. Amongst them was the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams.

Serena Williams all praise for Rafael Nadal

The American legend took to Twitter to congratulate Nadal on his achievement. Reacting to Roland Garros’ tweet, Serena said, “Rafa!!!!!” Earlier, Roland Garros, on their official Twitter handle had tweeted a picture of the Spaniard along with the caption, “Rafa-Garros.” 

Although it was a comfortable victory for Nadal in the final against Ruud, he had to dig deep in his previous rounds. In the fourth-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime which lasted four hours and 21 minutes, Nadal was stretched to five sets. Subsequently, he overcame Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals in a four-sett thriller. Further, his tough semifinal match against Alexander Zverev was cut short after the German had to retire towards the end of the second set due to an ankle injury.

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Owing to his successful French Open 2022 campaign, Nadal has climbed a spot to be at the fourth position on the ATP rankings chart. Meanwhile, he tops the ATP Race to Turin leaderboard.

Serena not to play at Wimbledon this year

Earlier this month, the official players’ entry list was released for this year’s Wimbledon Championships. Interestingly, Venus and Serena Williams’ names were missing from the women’s singles entry list.

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While Serena has been suffering from a hamstring injury over the last year, Venus has been out of action due to a leg injury. Although they have withdrawn from singles, there is a possibility that they might play doubles together at Wimbledon. The entry list for the doubles competition is yet to be announced.