Rejuvenated Nadal to take on Ferrer

Spaniard seeks 8th title in Paris

PARIS — His words catching in his throat, Toni Nadal called it “really a miracle” that his nephew is back in the French Open final.

Miraculous? More like expected, given that Rafael Nadal is 58-1 for his career at Roland Garros, a seven-time champion who will become the only man with eight titles at one Grand Slam tournament if he beats David Ferrer in Sunday’s all-Spanish final.

Here is what Uncle Toni, who has coached Rafa since age 4, meant: They had doubts after Nadal was sidelined for about seven months with a left knee injury.

There were times, the younger Nadal said, when “it was impossible to think that I would be here.”

After outlasting topseeded Novak Djokovic 6- 4, 3- 6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7 in a taut semifinal that stretched across more than 4½ hours, the third-seeded Nadal referred to his time away, saying, “When these kind of matches happen, you suffer, but I really enjoy these moments, no? I really enjoy suffering, because what’s harder is when I am in Mallorca last year and I had to watch these kind of matches on the TV.”

Nadal’s left knee kept him out of action from last June, when he lost in the second round at Wimbledon, until this February. He missed the London Olympics, the U. S. Open and the Australian Open.

Since returning to the tour, Nadal is 42-2 with six titles, reaching the finals of all nine tournaments he’s entered. He’s on a 21-match winning streak.

“There are weeks when I feel better, weeks when I feel a bit worse,” Nadal said. “Sometimes you’re more positive; sometimes you’re more negative.”

Nadal and Ferrer will be playing each other for the 24th time, and Nadal has won 19 of those.

“Defeating Rafa is very difficult on any surface; it’s even worse on clay,” Ferrer said. “But ... I’m going to try to play a beautiful match.”