Masters 1000 Madrid (2nd round): Rafael Nadal takes his revenge on Alex de Minaur and reassures himself

Ten days. Only a week and a half, that’s what tennis it took for Rafael Nadal to regain enough feeling and confidence to dominate the world number 11 in the person of Alex de Minaur. After the Mallorcan’s defeat in Barcelona against this same opponent, his clan warned that he would be much better during their reunion in Madrid. Well, his staff was right. The man with 22 Grand Slams went for victory in straight sets on center court this Saturday (7-6, 6-3).

The Spaniard had to fight to qualify for the round of 16 of the Masters 1000. But is there another way to get rid of a man who is approaching the level of the world top 10, after so many physical difficulties. Yes, today a great champion may have lacked consistency. But today, a great champion made his return and offered himself a member of the top 20 for the first time since the 2022 Masters.

A victory that was built from the first exchanges. Because the Majorcan insisted on hitting hard from the start, as if to show that he was no longer the same man as ten days ago. So strong that he broke and led 2-0 at the start of the first set. Alex de Minaur quickly came back and forced his opponent of the day to do much more to win, but the message had been sent.

Not necessarily enough legs to serve as hard as he would like and change supports easily when he is wrong-footed, the Spaniard compensated. First with a percentage of successful first serves remaining above 70%. Especially with phenomenal forehand slaps, which dusted off the memory of very great times of tennis in the heads of his Madrid audience.

Enough to take the Australian into a tie break, where 10 days ago, the Mallorcan had conceded the first set 7-5. For a player whose athletic dimension is one of the foundations of the game, the mental cannot be 100% when the physical is not either. A truth observable in the tie break of the first round, when “Rafa” wasted four set points offered by the Australian who was starting to crack, particularly on his backhand. We had to push to 8-6 to pocket the bet, before setting foot in a more serene second act.

While we thought that time would work in favor of the world number 11, this was not the case. The public’s favorite did not gain momentum, but managed to maintain his level of play, offering a coherent and sometimes impressive defense against a De Minaur who did not give up. Enough to offer some Dantesque points, and make us forget the quarrel with the referee and the supervisor at the start of the match, the fault of a ball judged to be a fault but not challenged, thanks to the quality of his tennis. With his fist clenched at the end of each winning exchange, his gaze almost black and his eyebrows furrowed in adversity, as the match progressed, a certainty was revealed: if Nadal is still not as competitive as before, here he is again immensely competitive.

Despite De Minaur losing his pace, the Spaniard did not wait for the match to fall into his lap. He went for it on the service game of his opponent of the day and put himself in a position to win thanks to a perfectly struck backhand passing. A double fault from the Australian later, Nadal took his revenge and folded the match in two sets. Is he ready for Roland Garros? Is he ready for games? No one has the answer yet, not even the champion himself. On the other hand, he is ready to win.