At 36, Nadal became the oldest men’s champion in Paris.
He eclipsed his late compatriot Andres Gimeno’s mark from 50 years ago and elevated his haul on the sport’s biggest stages to 22 majors, two clear of his nearest rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
“Without a doubt for me and I think for a lot of people who love the history of this sport, this is the best tournament of the world… You make me feel like home,” Nadal said.
“For me personally, it’s very difficult to describe the feelings that I have. It’s something that I’ve for sure never believed being here at 36, being competitive again playing on the most important court of my career one more time in a final.
“It means a lot to me, it means everything. It means a lot of energy to try to keep going. I don’t know what can happen in the future but I’m going to keep fighting to try to keep going.”
Ruud had waxed lyrical about his idol ahead of their title match and boasted of being able to name at will, every one of Nadal’s previous victims from 13 finals in Paris.
While overawed in two hours and 18 minutes, he was far from disgraced.