Rafael Nadal’s entry into the Foro Italico was less comfortable than one might expect in his first match on that stage where he has won 10 titles and was returning to Rome after 728 days. The Belgian Zizou Bergs24 years old and 108 in the world, forced him before giving up the victory 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 before shaking his hand at the net after almost three hours.
It seemed that Nadal It was going to have a quiet start when after 16 minutes he had already achieved the first break. But from that moment on the situation changed from being two balls away to 4-1, the scoreboard took a spectacular turn against us. The Balearic tennis player committed a double fault and three errors to lose serve for the first time. If he had come out strong, calm and explosive, unexpectedly everything changed for the worse until he ended up losing the set in 47 minutes.
And mountain, named Zizou in honor of his parents to the French footballer Zinedine Zidane, He entered the Foro Italico headquarters, almost full, self-conscious, to face the ten-time Balearic champion. He soon found himself prepared to respond and take advantage of the Nadal’s slump who, starting at 3-1, began to make errors (14 unforced against 3 winners), nervous and tense, to turn the score around with two breaks (3-2 and 4-5) and snatch the set .
Reassembled
Nadal He went thoughtful and worried to the locker room. “If you have the objective, shoot hard, convinced,” he asked. Carlos Moya when the former number 1 returned to the track. A break to attend to a spectator in the stands helped him calm down, sitting adjusting a grip on his racket. At the restart he won the first game blank, broke the next one Mountain and took a 3-0 lead. In the stands, his father Sebastià had his little son Rafa in his arms, who was looking attentively at the track.
The panorama had changed. Nadal did not let the advantage slip away to win the second set. He was more confident, convinced and intense. Thus he broke to go ahead 2-1 and once again took an advantage that he would not let slip despite Bergs’ fight, after save a break with 0-40 to certify the 4-2, and close his victory in xxxx hours and xxxx minutes.
Hurkacz, próximo rival
Your next rival, Hubert Hurkacz (world 8) this Saturday will be more complicated than against Bers and another good test ahead of Roland Garros. He has never faced the Polish tennis player who, without being a specialist on land, has in his powerful serve a weapon that is difficult to counteract.
2024-05-09 11:13:00
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