Rafael Nadal, who He returned to compete yesterday after more than three months of absencewas eliminated this Wednesday in the second round of the Barcelona Tournament by the Australian Alex de Minaur, 7-5 and 6-1. The winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments competed well, but ended up accusing the lack of competition rhythm against the Australian, number eleven in the worldwhich accelerated in the second set.
”I achieved a victory against Rafa on dirt, which is something I never thought I would achieve in my career.“De Minaur said after the game. Rafa, likewise, explained: “It wasn’t today that I had to leave everything and die, in Paris, whatever God wants. There I hope to be competitive and there is the moment. I have had the opportunity to say goodbye to the Conde de Godó while playing. A week ago he thought he wouldn’t be able to play here again. The clear message before the tournament was to prioritize not taking any risks. The important thing was to be able to play and I have played. Being on the track is great news.”
In 1h52m of play, after a first set that lasted 1h07m, Rafa left the court that bears his name at the RCTB-1899 excited for an ovation that could have sounded like farewell. The Manacorí has not yet confirmed that this will be his last year, although he did comment, after losing, that It is normal that this was his “last game at Godó”.
Nadal had easily beaten Italian Flavio Cobolli (6-2, 6-3) on Tuesday in his return to competition since his injury in January in Brisbane, but he himself admitted that he was not a favorite against the Australian. ”The duel against De Minaur It will have a rhythm that I don’t know if I will be able to follow, but let’s try“Nadal had stated on Tuesday.
The Spanish, who fell to number 644 in the worldbegan seeing how his rival broke his initial game, but with 3-2 down, the Balearic player managed to react to return the break and equalize the score 3-3.
The Australian, seeded fourth in the tournament, went through some difficult moments, but with 5-5 on the scoreboard, De Minaur chained eight points in a row to close the set 7-5. In the second set, De Minaur gave greater intensity to his game that Nadal could not follow. ”The plan was to be aggressive and try to move Rafa as much as possible,” said De Miñaur.
The Australian broke Nadal’s serve in the third game to go up 2-1 and confirm 3-1 on serve. The Spaniard struggled to keep up with the Australian, who went on the attack and once again broke his rival’s serve, who managed to save three break points, before De Miñaur went up 4-1 and confirmed the 5-1 with the take out of it.
The body continues to mortify Rafael Nadal. With only three official matches in the season (at the beginning of January, in Brisbane) before this return in Barcelona, the Spanish tennis player announced at the beginning of April nor could he compete in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000one of the most symbolic competitions of his rich career, which he won eleven times, between 2005 and 2018.
“These are difficult times for me sportingly speaking.. Unfortunately I inform you that I am not going to play in Monte Carlo. My body just won’t let me. And although I continue working and trying my best every day with the hope of being able to compete in tournaments that have been very important to me, the reality is that today I cannot,” the winner of 22 individual titles wrote on his social networks. of Grand Slam.
And he added, to the distress of the tennis world: “I have no choice but to accept the situation and try to look towards the immediate future, maintaining hope and desire to give myself the opportunity for things to improve.. A big hug to everyone and thank you for the love and support always!”
Until his return this Tuesday to a court in Barcelona, Nadal had not played in an official match since last January 5, when he lost in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Brisbane, Australia (against local Jordan Thompson), where he reappeared on the circuit after a year of absence. His poor physical condition forced him to resign this year from the Australian Open, the Doha tournament and the Indian Wells Masters 1000, before this withdrawal for Monte Carlo. On March 3 he played an exhibition for Netflix in Las Vegas, in which he lost to Carlos Alcaraz.
Nadal should now continue his preparation with a view to Roland Garros next week at the Masters 1000 in Madrid. “I hope to be in Madrid in a week is my goal. Accumulate training days and match days. The normal thing is that it was my last game in Barcelona. Life sets the path for you and it is setting it for me quite clearly,” said Nadal.
Trungelliti’s epic triumph
For years, the stress caused by Marco Trungelliti having shaken the circuit by denouncing a rejected bribery (match-fixing) attempt, a brave action that indirectly generated sanctions for three Argentine tennis players, affected him physically and emotionally. Injuries disturbed him, again and again. However, tennis (life) gave him revenge, a new opportunity. At 34 years old, being 197th in the world ranking, when very few expected it, the Argentine gave a strong blow to the table in the traditional ATP 500 in Barcelona, beating a top 25 like the Chilean Nicolás Jarry (22nd) , by 7-6 (7-5) and 6-3, in 1h59m, and advance to the round of 16 (where the Italian Matteo Arnaldi, world number 40, will be his rival).
After overcoming the two qualifying challenges and defeating the Croatian Duje Ajdukovic in the first round of the main draw (in what was his first victory in a main draw of ATP 500), the player born in Santiago del Estero and based in Andorra, stood on court 2 of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona with lucidity and optimism against an opponent who last February defeated Carlitos Alcaraz on the brick dust of Buenos Aires and who was recently a quarterfinalist in the Miami Masters 1000. Trunge He was not intimidated by the importance of the match. With the ability to contain the very strong impacts of Jarry (the third best Latin American in the ranking), I display a precise ability to displace the Chilean giant (2.01m), alter the height of his shots and cut the rally with exquisite drops, a trademark of the Argentine whose best ranking was 112th in 2019.