Paris ? Rafael Nadal, the new king of clay, put on a show worthy of the royalty watching him.

Red dust caked Nadal from his hair to his sneakers after his French Open triumph Sunday, the charismatic teen who plays with a pugnacious smirk holding both dirty hands up to a beaming King Juan Carlos of Spain in the box above.

On this day, the scruffy Spanish player with tears in his eyes assumed his own moment of majesty.

“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. “For the first time, I cried after winning a match.”

In a match as enthralling as it was brilliantly played, Nadal overcame an inspired performance by unseeded Argentine Mariano Puerta, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5, to become the youngest men’s Grand Slam champion since Michael Chang won the French at 17 in 1989.

Two days after celebrating his 19th birthday by beating No. 1 Roger Federer in four sets, Nadal defeated surprisingly tenacious Puerta.

In winning, Nadal, the first French men’s winner to take the title in his debut since Mats Wilander in 1982, flopped flat on his back and lay sprawled on the clay he loves as the cheers cascaded down on him. He had won his sixth title of the year and moved up from No. 5 to No. 3 in the rankings.

When Nadal rose, he raised his arms to the crowd and embraced Puerta at the net, before going to the other end of the court to shake hands and chat with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.

“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.”