On a day when he was supposed to claim his place among tennis prodigies like Sampras, Becker, and Borg without dirtying a sock, Rafael Nadal narrowly escaped defeat in a superb French Open final defined by daring shots, astounding angles, and a diving volley that came within an inch of changing everything.

The irrepressible 19-year-old Spaniard, playing his first French Open and his first Grand Slam final, scored a 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 victory over fellow left-hander Mariano Puerta, a 26-year-old Argentine who won many fans and even more respect with his inspired play.

Puerta, who competed with an aggression just short of abandon, sent the tiring Nadal scurrying all over the court and seemed poised to push the match to a fifth set before Nadal’s dogged defense carried the day. The teen chased down every shot Puerta sent his way, on several occasions returning balls that seemed impossible to retrieve on two bounces, let alone one.

“These moments are moments when everything comes upon you,” Nadal said afterward. “For the first time I cried after winning a match. It never happened to me before.”

For Nadal, the victory was a crowning achievement in five months of tennis that has known only highs, no lows. He has climbed into the top five in the world and won six titles, including his first Grand Slam, as well as 24 consecutive matches on clay. Not since the 17-year-old Mats Wilander in 1982 has a man won the French Open on his first try. At 19 years and two days, Nadal is the fourth youngest winner in Paris – behind only Michael Chang, Wilander, and Bjorn Borg – and the youngest since Chang won in 1989.

In the stands, King Juan Carlos of Spain looked on, as did Nadal’s parents, his younger sister, and Toni Nadal, the young star’s ever-present uncle and coach.

“Mariano played better tennis than Rafa, but Rafa had the luck when he needed it,’ ‘Toni Nadal told the Associated Press. “He particularly had the luck at the end of the fourth set.”

Indeed, Nadal was centimeters from losing the fourth set after a tremendous effort by Puerta.

The two traded breaks to open the set and the tension increased from there. Trailing 2-3, Puerta fell behind 0-30 before putting away one of Nadal’s many acrobatic returns with an overhead. Next, Nadal wiggled out of trouble, coming back from 0-40 in the following game with the help of a perfect drop shot and a crosscourt backhand passing shot with Puerta at net. At 4-4, Puerta produced his best tennis, breaking Nadal with a backhand volley winner that was set up bya forehand that skidded near the baseline. He was a game, and soon a point, from a fifth set.

“In the fifth set, it could have been either of us,” Puerta said. “When I went onto the court, he was the favorite, it was clear to me. But at the end of the fourth, I didn’t see him that way anymore.”

Serving for the set at 5-4, 40-15, Puerta found himself at the net with Nadal on the run, and then the champion rolled a backhand cross-court that Puerta, after a slight slide in the wrong direction, could not volley. On the next point, Puerta forced Nadal from the baseline with a drop volley and then dove when Nadal flicked a forehand crosscourt. The entire court was open, but Puerta’s volley clipped the tape as he watched from the ground.

Puerta then missed a forehand winner attempt that gave Nadal break point, and then the Spaniard delivered the shot of the day: a two-handed back hand deflection – it was too quick to call it a volley – with both players at the net. Puerta swatted a swinging forehand volley right at Nadal from close range, and it came back as if it had bounced off a brick wall. Puerta’s reflexes proved less quick, and he pushed his volley wide.

Nadal shuffled toward the baseline, his fist cocked, and leapt into the air with his trademark fist pump, his biceps flexing to the size of man 10 years his senior. King Juan Carlos stood and cheered. Nadal charged through the next two games, winning the title when Puerta hit a forehand wide. Nadal fell backward with arms outstretched, spending one last moment sprawled out on the red clay that he has mastered.

“When I went off the court, I knew I had lost against the best player in the world on clay,” Puerta said. “I think he’s going to do beautiful things in tennis, like Chang did in his own time, or Agassi. He’s going to become a legend of tennis.”

Though the match lasted nearly three and a half hours, Nadal almost won it after 25 minutes. Trailing 3-1 and 15-40, Puerta limped back to his chair and called for the trainer. He said the pain, around his thigh, was quite strong.

But after a quick wrap, Puerta collected himself, winning that game and breaking even in the next. In the tiebreak, Puerta belted several forehands and forced Nadal into an error to end the set.

For the next two sets, Puerta was sluggish and Nadal was dominant. Puerta had won five-set matches in the quarterfinals and semifinals, both against strong clay-court players. Nadal, meanwhile, had lost only two sets the entire tournament, thanks in part to a poor performance by Roger Federer in a semifinal that the teenager controlled from the first point.

It would have been no surprise if Puerta had decided to play dead in the fourth set. By reaching the final, he had accomplished far more than anyone had expected of him. A year ago, the Argentine was serving a nine-month suspension for a doping violation, which was later traced to prescription asthma medication. His ranking plummeted into the 400s and he was forced to play low-level tournaments. Puerta had beaten the odds, and there was no shame in taking a set off Nadal and then quietly going home.

Instead, Puerta kept at it. For the entire fourth set, just like most of the first, he pounded his strokes deep into the court and close to the sidelines. As he pushed Nadal back, Puerta moved forward, taking balls on the rise and sending Nadal on taxing trips from one doubles alley to another. For the match, Puerta approached the net 55 times, winning 34 points – an admirable percentage for a practiced volleyer who has yet to play a single match this year on a surface other than clay.

“He was hitting me where it hurt,” Nadal said. “He made me move a lot and run a lot. I think this is the match where I ran the most in the whole tournament.”

Puerta’s blows forced Nadal to hit far too many shots inside the service line or just beyond. If not for his remarkable feet, the Spaniard would have lost the fourth set convincingly.

But at 5-4, 40-15, Puerta’s chance slipped through his fingers. A slight slide in the wrong direction, a dive, a magical return – so ended what was perhaps the Argentine’s best chance at a Grand Slam title. As for Nadal, the quest for slams is just beginning, as are the demands for his time, his face, his winning smile. Nadal insists the commitments of a champion will not change a thing.

“I’m always a 19-year-old boy who likes to do what he likes and nothing more,” he said. “I’m going to do the same: I will work day after day like I did my whole life and I’m not going to change anything just because I won this tournament.”