Revenge successful: After his defeat against Alex de Minaur in Barcelona, Rafael Nadal turns the tables in Madrid. The victory gives him momentum for the next Grand Slam tournament
Spain’s tennis star Rafael Nadal has shown an upturn in form one month before the start of the French Open. The 22-time Grand Slam tournament winner beat tenth seed Alex de Minaur 7:6 (8:6), 6:3 in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament on clay in Madrid.
With this hard-fought victory, the 37-year-old also successfully took revenge for his second round defeat against the Australian the previous week in Barcelona.
After Nadal had shown nerves of steel in the tie-break of the first set and converted the fifth set point, he immediately took his opponent’s serve in the second round and ended the match after just over two hours. He wanted to get closer to his best form “step by step”, “let’s see how I recover now”, said Nadal afterwards. In the previous round, he had clearly won the generational duel against Darwin Blanch from the USA, who is 21 years his junior.
Nadal back in Paris?
His performance on clay in Madrid is also likely to have a major influence on Nadal’s decision as to whether or not he will compete at the French Open, which begins on May 26. “I won’t play in Paris if I feel like I did today,” the 14-time French Open winner said on Wednesday, causing a stir. Nadal, who has been repeatedly set back by injuries, wants to end his career in 2024.
Three German tennis players also reached the third round in Madrid on Friday. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev will now fight for a place in the round of 16 against Denis Shapovalov from Canada, while Daniel Altmaier will face the strong-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz. Jan-Lennard Struff seems to be buoyed by his first tournament win on the ATP Tour last weekend in Munich and has a good chance in his duel with Frenchman Ugo Humbert