2024-04-16 16:47:15
Rafael Nadal celebrated a convincing comeback on the ATP Tour in Barcelona on Tuesday. The 37-year-old Spanish tennis top star, who had a 103-day break after his exit in Brisbane, defeated the Italian Flavio Cobolli 6:2,6:3 in the first round. Nadal will face Australian Alex de Minaur, seeded number 4, in the second round.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner recently withdrew from the tournament in Monte Carlo because he didn’t feel fit enough. But in Barcelona, where he has won the title no fewer than twelve times (most recently in 2021), he impressed in his first match since the quarter-final exit in Brisbane on January 5th. Hard groundstrokes, good speed and otherwise pretty much the same.
“The fact that I can be there in Barcelona is a gift for me,” Nadal said before the match. “I’m treating the year as my last and I want to enjoy every second. That makes everything a little more special, that’s how I feel right now.”
Nadal is certainly not thinking about a 13th title in Barcelona yet. “I’m happy that I started with a win. It gets harder the older you get to come back from an injury,” he exhaled after his 475th win on clay in his career.
Andrej Rublew, however, has already been eliminated. The number 2 seeded Russian lost in the second round to the American Brandon Nakashima 4:6,6:7(6).
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