By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, April 27, 2024
A fired-up Rafael Nadal out-dueled No. 11 Alex de Minaur 7-6(6), 6-3 to score his first Top 20 win since 2022 at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Photo credit: Mateo Villalba/Getty
The Magic Box became a boom box today.
More than 12,500 Madrid fans stood as one in a collective chorus singing out a touching tribute to home hero Rafael Nadal.
“Rafa! Rafa! Rafa!” Spanish fans erupted in a sing-song chant echoing in his ears as Nadal took the court waving to the crowd.
Feeling the love of his most loyal fans, Nadal answered with an anthem of defiance.
Tuning up the intensity and sting of his shots, Nadal out-dueled No. 11 Alex de Minaur 7-6(6), 6-3 in a passionate performance to reach the Mutua Madrid Open third round before roaring home fans.
Spanish royalty, including King Felipe VI, and sporting royalty were among the more than 12,500 fans packed inside Manolo Santana stadium with the closed retractable roof creating a spirited atmosphere that felt like a Davis Cup tie-rock concert-revival festival-welcome home party all jamming with energy and emotion.
"Very important for me to be able to compete the whole match with a good level of tennis, and the body holded well for a little bit over two hours. That's important for me," Nadal told the media in Madrid. "It was a great test, and now let's see how I wake up tomorrow. That's the thing. So super happy.
"I never will have the chance to thank enough all the people here in Madrid for everything that they gave to me during all my tennis career, no, and today was a very emotional one."
When it comes to his love of a good fight, the song remains the same the same for Nadal.
A fired-up Nadal not only avenged his 7-5, 6-1 Barcelona loss to de Minaur, he scored his first Top 20 win since defeating No. 3 Casper Ruud at 2022 ATP Finals and first Top 20 win on clay since stopping No. 8 Ruud in the 2022 Roland Garros final for his 14th French Open crown.
The higher altitude of Madrid amped up the bounce of Nadal's twisting topspin and amplified Spanish fans adrenalized Nadal, who was "looking quite good out there," the Aussie No. 1 said.
"You want to come out and play at a high level, but again, these conditions in Madrid make it a little bit more tricky to play the way you want to play," de Minaur told the media in Madrid. "You know, you play in Barcelona, and then all of a sudden this match over here, everything doubles. All the outside noise doubles.
"Yeah, I wish I would have played better, but I think his level lifted, and he was looking quite good out there, if I may say."
The 37-year-old Spanish superstar will play Pedro Cachin for a place in the round of 16.
In an uplifting start, Nadal heard the “Rafa! Rafa! Rafa” repeated refrain from Spanish fans after the king of clay held at 15 to open the match.
The forehand drive down the line is one of Nadal’s kill shots and a confidence gauge. Slamming a forehand down the line brought Nadal break point in the second game.
Trying to take Nadal’s twisting topspin drives on the rise, de Minaur ballooned a forehand well long to surrender serve in his opening serve game.
An empowered Nadal tomahawked a smash down the line in the third game.
The former No. 1 tried to challenge a de Minaur shot he thought landed long, but chair umpire Fergus Murphy vetoed the challenge ruling while Nadal paused he did not make an audible or visible attempt to challenge.
That call incensed Nadal who asked to see the supervisor.
“I saw you stop but I didn’t see you challenge,” chair umpire Murphy replied.
Hawk-Eye line-calling system showed Nadal was right tthat the ball landed long, but replay also showed he didn’t immediately make a challenge signal. Instead of 30-all, it was 15-40 as Madrid fans whistled in protest.
A fired-up Nadal saved both break points, but missed a forehand long to face a third break point.
Given that reprieve, de Minaur roped a diagonal forehand to break back with a loud “Come on!”
Afterward, de Minaur said the tiff between Nadal and Murray only fueled fans to louder volumes.
" I continued to play the point, and then all of a sudden I didn't know if my ball was in or out, and then the ref gave me the point," de Minaur said. "So I didn't know what was happening, and then obviously the crowd got involved, but that was the whole match. I knew coming in what to expect, and I should have handled it better."
With partner and WTA pro Katie Boulter exhorting him, de Minaur stamped a love hold to level after four games.
The Demon drop shot was a weapon for the Aussie in his Barcelona win over Nadal. De Minaur deployed the drop shot beautifully to go up love-30 in the seventh game. Nadal tried the serve and volley but pushed a forehand volley wide to face triple break point.
Poking a backhand down the line smack off the line, de Minaur silenced the faithful, scoring his second break to go up 4-3.
Digging in, Nadal was hitting his two-hander with more height and spin as he exploited a de Minaur double fault and provoked an error to break back in the eighth game.
Action intensified again with de Minaur running down everything the Spaniard threw at him until Nadal nailed a backhand down the line ending a wondrous rally.
In de Minaur’s 7-5, 6-1 sweep of Nadal in Barcelona earlier this month, the Aussie blew open a 5-all match streaking through eight of the final nine games today.
When dirt deja vu arrived today, Nadal hung tough—and got some help De Minaur missed an open forehand down the line that would have given him a break point. Nadal knocked a backhand off the top of the tape and it plopped over on the Aussie’s side as the five-time champion held for 6-5 and Spanish fans erupted in the wave to celebrate.
In the tiebreaker, Nadal jumped out to a 3-1 lead as de Minaur bungled a smash.
The pair played a crackling 27-shot rally with Nadal amping up the bite of his drives and volume of his grunt before stepping in and scalding a backhand winner for 4-1.
Seizing control with his forehand down the line, Nadal drew an error for four set points at 6-2.
Jitters spiked as Nadal double faulted away the first set point and de Minaur blocked a drop volley to erase the second set point.
On the third set point, a sliding de Minaur played tremendous defense drawing a backhand error to creep closer at 5-6.
On his fourth set point, Nadal, who had not been winning any free points on serve, netted his first serve. A 16-shot rally ended with Nadal again missing trying to squeeze a backhand down the line as de Minaur leveled 6-all.
Showing major courage, Nadal skimmed the tape with a sharp-angled backhand that lanced the sideline for a fifth set point .
De Minaur floated a shot long ending the 76-minute set with Nadal unleashing a series of hearty fistpumps.
A full-stretch flick forehand from Nadal forced de Minaur to play one more ball and he missed it wide as Nadal broke to start the second set.
Rallying from love-30 down in the sixth game, Nadal reeled off four points in a row ripping a crosscourt backhand winner to hold for 4-2.
That sparkling strike spiked another chorus of “Rafa! Rafa! Rafa!” from Madrid fans.
Seeing the finish line in sight, Nadal sprinted through it.
A brilliant backhand winner brought him to match point and a de Minaur double fault ended the two hour, two-minute match.
Raising his arms in triumph, Nadal looked like a conductor soaking another celebratory song from faithful fans.
The song remains the same—and Nadal looks like a man getting in tune at the right time.
Living a dream day allows Nadal to continue the dream.
"Is not a thing about losing or winning," Nadal said. "It's about going on court there with the feeling that I can fight and I can be competitive and, you know, let's go on court and dream about what can happen, no?"