Acapulco – Less than a month after his triumph at the Australian Open, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal has celebrated his 91st title win on the ATP Tour.
The 35-year-old defeated Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Acapulco tournament to remain unbeaten after 15 matches this year. Only Jimmy Connors with 109, Roger Federer with 103 and Ivan Lendl with 94 have won more titles than Nadal in the history of professional tennis.
“At the end of the day, I’ve always said that these records have to be looked at when your career is over. Today the most important thing is that I won a prestigious tournament,” Nadal said. The world number five has already prevailed in the Australian Open finals and the opening tournament in Melbourne this year – the last time Nadal managed three or more tournament wins was in 2019.
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He defeated Daniil Medvedev, the new world number one, in the semi-finals in Acapulco. At the end of January, Nadal had already won the Melbourne final against the Russian in five contested sets, thus capturing his 21st Grand Slam title and taking over the sole record. The Spaniard had fought his way back after a long break due to a foot injury. He announced his intention to compete at the Masters tournament in Indian Wells in March.
“When I look back, all this seemed impossible a few weeks ago. It’s great how things can change in such a short period of time,” Nadal said, recalling that he had not been able to train again for long.
