Champ at 19, champ at 36: Nadal earns 14th French Open title

Rafael Nadal, a French Open champion for the 14th time at age 36, is, in obvious ways, different from Rafael Nadal, a French Open champion for the first time all the way back in 2005 at age 19.

His hair is thinning on top. The chartreuse T-shirt he wore while overwhelming Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in Sunday’s intriguing-for-a-handful-of-minutes final had sleeves, unlike his biceps-baring look of nearly two decades ago. The white capri pants that ran below his knees back in the day were long since traded in for more standard shorts; Sunday’s were turquoise.

Here’s what hasn’t changed along the way to his 22 Grand Slam titles in all, another record, in addition to his between-point mannerisms and meticulous attention paid to the must-be-just-so placement of water bottles and towels: That lefty uppercut of a topspin-slathered, high-bouncing forehand still finds the mark much more frequently than it misses, confounding foes.