It was going to be an exhibition match in Las Vegas, but Carlos Alcaraz y Rafael Nadal They staged a true marathon this Sunday, ending with a spectacular 14-12 victory by Carlitosin a final ten-point tiebreaker, after more than two hours on court against Rafa who saved five match points.
The first edition of the Netflix Slaman exhibition match organized in Las Vegas between Nadal and Alcaraz who showed off their competitive soul and who, Even though it was a friendly match, they had an intense fight.with great exchanges of blows and neither of them taking it lightly.
A total of 24 greats (22 from Nadal and two from Alcaraz), and 104 titles met on the hard court of the Michelob Ultra Arena stadium at the Mandalay Bay Casino and both players showed good form after leaving injuries behind problematic. Nadal comes from recovering from a muscle micro-tear suffered on January 5 in Brisbane, while Alcaraz I had discomfort in my ankle since the Rio tournament on February 20.
They both left Las Vegas with good feelings. The two Spaniards had already been in California for several days, where they will compete starting Wednesday Masters 1000 de Indian Wellsy They met for the fourth time in their careers.the first in an exhibition match after Nadal won the first two official matches and Alcaraz knocked him down in Madrid 2022 on the way to the second Masters 1000 of his career.
First time in Las Vegas
In the run-up to the match, both Nadal and Alcaraz acknowledged that it was their first time in Las Vegas, and not just to play a tennis match. “Not only is it my first time playing, I’m in Las Vegas for the first time. My schedule didn’t allow me to visit many places, but last night I was able to take a walk, incredible, especially at night, the spectacle of Las Vegas is something you have to see,” Nadal said in statements on the field on Netflix. “To It’s special for me to play in front of this crowd, it’s my first time in Las Vegas. “I’m excited to play here,” said Alcaraz.
They left outside distractions off the track and Nadal started the match launched. His serve and drive worked for him and he starred in some spectacular exchanges with Alcaraz. The one from Manacor It was more effective, it moved well and he acknowledged during one of the pauses that everything was going better than he expected. With a winning serve, he took the first set 6-3 in 37 minutes without conceding any breaking points.
The wind changed in the second, with Alcaraz that increased the level and achieved a break in Nadal’s first turn to serve to go 2-0 up. The Murcian began to feel more comfortable, he began to do damage with his dropshots and attacking the net and, despite giving up his serve at 3-5, he immediately recovered the break to equalize the match 1-1 with a 6-4 in 49 minutes.
With the balance on the scoreboard and Indian Wells just around the corner, The duel was decided in a ten-point tiebreaker.. It couldn’t have been more spectacular, with Alcaraz scoring four consecutive points and getting up to six match points against Nadal who held on to five. The man from Manacor canceled one of them with a wonderful through drive that brought the crowd to their feet. It was on the sixth point of the match when Alcaraz managed to secure the victory. Nadal’s drive touched the net and ended up wide to give the Murcian the victory.
A show in the city of the game
The Las Vegas event generated enormous expectation in the United States and, a few hours before the match, The few tickets still available were selling for more than $200. on online resale platforms such as VividSeats. And these were figures not comparable to the VIP packages, which had been completely sold out for weeks despite having prices ranging between $878 and $9,398, taxes excluded.
The match had very special commentators. In the US broadcast, three of the six former American tennis players capable of reaching number one in the world met: Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi y Jim Courier. There were dozens of celebrities in the stands, such as the former Los Angeles Lakers player Pau Gasolhe quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams Matthew Stafford, Catherine Zeta Jones o Michael Douglaswho acknowledged that he is a great fan of Nadal
2024-03-03 23:12:39
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