Alex de Minaur has become the first Australian to defeat the legendary Rafael Nadal on clay, at the Barcelona fortress named in his honour.
At 37 years of age, Nadal was using a protected ranking to even play because of injuries, most notably a serious hip setback, that kept him off the tour for much of the past two years and saw him tumble to No.644 in the world. “When the draw came out, I probably wasn’t too keen on playing Rafa, but I turned my attitude around and looked at it like a huge opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I was extremely happy I was able to get the win and move on.“I can probably say I’m very, very fortunate I didn’t play Rafa a couple of years earlier on the clay – it would have been a very, very different result – but it was an amazing experience, and it’s been a great year.
De Minaur struck 21 winners to Nadal’s 11, while also committing far fewer errors , with the Spaniard’s resistance broken for good after he tried valiantly to rise to the occasion in the fifth game of the second set. “So, I decided to make the rallies quite physical and long, and used my speed to my advantage and, of course, try to be the one dictating and make him move, but it’s never easy against him.”
Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)
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