Rafael Nadal has made an impressive return to the tennis tour: at the ATP tournament in Barcelona, the 22-time major champion won against the Italian Flavio Cobolli 6:2, 6:3.
by Florian Goosmann
last edited: April 16, 2024, 8:16 p.m
For Rafael Nadal, playing tennis on clay is… the most natural thing in the world! Even though it has now been almost two years since the Spaniard played a competitive match on his beloved red clay – that was in 2022, at the French Open. Which of course he won.
So now the return, after the actual comeback after the almost game-free 2023 was only a short pleasure. At the beginning of the year, Nadal had already celebrated his big hello in Brisbane, but then injured himself again; He had to cancel the entire US tour, as well as the start in Monte Carlo, and Barcelona was also on the brink for a long time.
None of this was a problem against Cobolli, number 62 in the world.
Nadal managed an early break and a quick 4-1 lead, which he extended to win the set – also thanks to the Italian’s 27 errors without any need. In the second round, Nadal was quickly ahead 4-1 and had the match in his pocket after 1 hour 25 minutes.
Now it’s against Alex de Minaur, Nadal leads the direct comparison here with 3 to 1.
Nadal: Only the serve still has a bit of a problem
Nadal had only confirmed his start in Barcelona a few days ago after he was still struggling with problems in his abdominal muscle area. While the groundstrokes weren’t a problem, the serve was a bit of a concern; In training and sometimes in the match, Nadal had to tweak his serve movement a bit.
Opponent Cobolli only had two break chances, one of which he took advantage of. But Nadal immediately followed up again and earned a total of ten break points.
It seems quite possible that Nadal will compete in Barcelona for the last time, on the court named after him. He has planned 2024 as his farewell season, even if he doesn’t want to rule out continuing his career if his body cooperates.
Rublev eliminated, Altmaier continued
Brandon Nakashima caused a surprise. The American took second seed Andrey Rublev out of the race – 6:4, 7:6 (6). Sebastian Baez also had to give up against Matteo Arnaldi.
Next, however: Daniel Altmaier after a 6:3, 7:6 (4) against Alexei Popyrin.
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Rafael Nadal
2024-04-16 16:24:00
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