The legendary Spaniard was dominated in straight sets for his first match in Turin.
Rafael Nadal, 2nd in the world, was beaten by the American Taylor Fritz (9th) 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, Sunday in Turin as soon as he entered the ATP Masters.
The 36-year-old Spaniard is now back to the wall and will have to beat his two other opponents in the Green group, Casper Ruud (4th) and Félix Auger-Aliassime (6th), if he wants to go to the semi-finals.
Fritz, drafted after the withdrawal of world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz due to an abdominal injury, is taking part at the age of 25 for the first time in the tournament bringing together the eight best players of the season.
He disturbed the Spaniard enormously by being very aggressive in return of service and by holding the exchange. On several occasions, Nadal was even forced to slow down the exchange of a backhand.
The man with 22 Grand Slam titles, who has never won the Masters despite two finals, held until the tie-break in the first set, but he immediately gave his opponent the advantage in the deciding game by committing a double fault and never returned.
In the second set, Fritz made the break twice. The second, he still benefited from a double fault from Nadal, on the fifth break point of the game, to break away 5-1.
In the process, the American concluded on his face-off, without having had to defend the slightest break point in the whole match.