Rafa Nadal stuns in shock appearance during French Open

Rafael Nadal took some time off from his quest for a 14th grand slam champion and made an appearance at the Champions League final to watch his team Real Madrid play Liverpool.

Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1-0 in a Champions League final that started 37 minutes late because of disturbing crowd issues outside the Stade de France in Paris.

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Winger Vinicius Junior applied a close-range finish in the 59th minute from Federico Valverde's drive across the face of goal, securing a Saturday night win that gave Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti a record fourth European Cup title.

While Madrid completed a Champions League-La Liga double, Liverpool finished a season that promised so much - a week ago, they were in contention for an unprecedented quadruple of major trophies - with just the two domestic cups in England.

And while there was a number of footballing legends at the stadium in Paris, one of the biggest cheers was for tennis icon Nadal.

The Spaniard took time off ahead of his Third Round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime to visit the Stade de France.

And fortunately for the Spaniard, his team got up in the final.

Nadal is seeking his 14th French Open title, which is the same number of UEFA Champions League trophies Real Madrid has achieved.

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The Spaniard showed little sign of discomfort as he breezed past Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 as his quest for a 14th Roland Garros title continued.

However, many fans were swooning over a special moment post-match when a young boy evaded security and ran onto Court Philippe Chatrier.

Nadal was finishing his post-match routine after the straight sets win when a young boy ran up to the 35-year-old.

And in a special moment cheered by the Parisian crowd, Nadal greeted the child before security intervened.

"Yeah, I think Rafa was probably a bit surprised as it’s not what you're expecting," Tennis great Tim Henman told Eurosport.

“He [the security guard] is thinking, 'wow, I haven’t quite done my job'. But I think the kid was probably looking for a souvenir, asking for a racquet or a wristband or something.

"But it’s not necessarily what you expect to see on one of the show courts at a Grand Slam."

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