Nineteen-year-old Rafael Nadal had his dreams come true on Sunday as he captured his first Grand Slam event by winning the French Open title. The Spanish teenager downed unseeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina in four sets 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 to become the youngest Grand Slam tournament winner since Michael Chang won at Roland Garros at age 17 in 1989.

'All the work you've been doing during all those years, the sacrifices, when you reach your goal, it's an extraordinary moment,' Nadal said in his post match press conference. 'For the first time I cried after winning a match.'

The well played match took three hours and 24 minutes to complete and was filled with exceptionally well played tennis.

Puerta broke serve in the fourth set to take a 5-4 lead and was serving for a chance to force a fifth and deciding set. Puerta had three set points but could not get the last point past Nadal.

The 26-year-old Puerta was impressed with the play of his opponent. 'He must be given credit because there were three points where he really went to get the ball,' Puerta said. 'I could have been a bit more lucky. One point was a couple of centimeters away. I could still be playing now, in fact. But it was a beautiful match all the same. When I went off the court, I knew I had lost against the best player in the world on clay. What could I do?'

Nadal improved his world ranking to three with the win. He was ranked fifth in the world entering this year's French Open. A clay court specialist, has now won 24 straight matches on clay and has six titles this year already.

After his win, Nadal went to chat with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of his native Spain. The moment was so emotional, Nadal started to cry.

'I didn't think I was going to cry, but my whole family was very emotional,' Nadal said. 'In the end, I started crying also.'

At least on this day for Rafael Nadal, he was crying tears of joy.