Grand Moment

BENGALURU: Spaniard tennis champion Rafael Nadal slayed it on the tennis court at the finals of the Roland Garros 2022, as the world watched the nail-biting spectacle. Rafa beat Norwegian tennis player Casper Ruud in three straight sets to claim his 14th French Open trophy. While a number of Hollywood celebrities– Hugh Grant, Michael Douglas and Demi Moore were in attendance to watch the clash at Court Philippe Chatrier – Bengaluru made its presence felt with Nirupa Shankar, executive director of the Brigade Enterprises in the audience too.

An ardent Nadal fan, Shankar has been following his career closely. “The match was quite straightforward but any tennis match is always filled with nail-biting moments. Anything can happen by the end of the match, just as we saw in the semi-finals between Rafa and Zverev. As a Nadal fan, I knew he had a foot injury that could act up at any point in time.

So I was just relieved that he could claim his 22nd Grand Slam,” Shankar tells CE from Paris. Nadal’s matches usually turn into thrillers with the match going upto 5-6 sets. Before the match started, even Shankar, just like other fans, was gearing up for a long match. “It wasn’t as exciting as the 5-setter he played in round 16 or the quarter-finals but the atmosphere in the stadium was charged, nevertheless.

It was amazing to see Rafa fans from across the globe come together to see their champion win,” says Shankar. The 39-year-old, who follows tennis ardently, confesses not watching too many other sports unless they are special cricket or football matches. “In this specific case, I travelled to Paris for the French Open because there was a lot of talk about him retiring and it could be the last chance to see him play,” she adds.