Rafael Nadal has exacted revenge over Australian, Alex de Minaur at the Madrid Masters, with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 victory over the on Saturday ensuring the Spanish crowd is able to see him play at least one more time, in his farewell to the event. tournament but admitted he still “needs time” to return to his competitive peak.
With the two combatants meeting on court twice in as many weeks, the result was reversed from Barcelona, as the 22-time Grand Slam champion defied his prediction earlier in the week, where he said he didn’t expect to win. He now finds himself in a third-round meeting with Argentina’s Pedro Cachin.
In front of a crowd that at times felt more like a football match, (with French football star Zinedine Zidane, and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior in the stands), Nadal pulled out all the stops, to send the world number 11 packing.
While fans were quick to laud the Spaniard’s form, Nadal was just as quick to shoot down any big expectations.
“No, not yet. It needs time,” said Nadal on court.
“To play over two hours means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke.”
“Just step by step and let’s see how I recover.”
“I don’t know, I really believe tennis hasn’t been an issue the last two years, more the physical issues. If I’m able to play weeks in a row, I’ll see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. But step by step, let’s see how I recover really.”
He also went on to say a decision regarding the French Open, won’t be made until after the Rome event.
“It’s not a thing about losing or winning. It’s about going on court there with the feeling that I can fight and I can be competitive,” said the record 14-time French Open champion.
“So if I am not able to go on court and dream, for me it doesn’t make sense to go. I prefer to stay with all the amazing memories that I have.”
For the Aussie, it was a day to forget, as he missed the chance to knock over the King of Clay, twice in successive weeks on the dirt.
“Conditions in Madrid make it trickier to play the way you wanna play,” he said.
“You play in Barcelona then all of a sudden this match over here everything doubles. All the outside noise doubles. I wish I would’ve played better but his level lifted and he was looking quite good out there.”
De Minaur just couldn’t quite handle the high looping, top-spin of Nadal, resulting in 33 unforced errors. It’s tough to beat Nadal at the best of times, but handing him that many free points, made it an enormous uphill battle.
The match was tight in the first set, just like in Barcelona, but this time, it was Nadal breaking through to take out the tiebreak, despite De Minaur saving four set points.
From there, the Spaniard took control, sneaking a quick break in the second and from there, Nadal mixed up his game enough, that the Aussie was lost for answers. The win marked Nadal’s first victory over a top-20 player since 2022.
