Rafael Nadal, a 37-year-old Spanish tennis player who has already won 22 Grand Slam titles, defeated Darwin Blanch, a 16-year-old American, in his debut at the Madrid Opena combined men’s and women’s tennis tournament that has broadcast by ESPN on Star+.
The former world number 1 did not face much resistance from his young opponent, who received an invitation from the competition organizers and occupies only 1028th position in the ATP rankings. Nadal beat Blanch by 2 sets to 0partials of 6/1 and 6/0, in Magic Box (magic court, in free translation) in just over an hour of departure.
Even though he wasn’t 100% physically, the experienced Spanish tennis player managed to play aggressively and didn’t give Blanch a chance to enter the match. Nadal has been dealing with injuries in recent years and declared, last Wednesday (24), that he only chose to compete in this tournament because the Masters 1000 in Madrid is special and should be his last participation in it before his retirement from the circuit.
Nadal has only played 6 official matches this season. El Toro Miúra He suffered a hip injury in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Brisbane, held in January, and only managed to return to the court last week, when he was eliminated in the 2nd round of the ATP 500 in Barcelona by Alex De Minaur.
Last year, the King of Clay was practically unable to play after also getting injured at the beginning of the season, in the 2nd round of the Australian Open, held in the 1st month of 2023. The greatest champion in the history of Roland Garros said he still doesn’t know if will be able to compete in the French Open, which takes place at the end of May.
Nadal already admits that this should be his farewell season from professional tennis and that he wants to compete, in some way, for the Paris Olympicswhich will also be played on French clay in July
With the victory, Nadal will now face again the Australian De Minaur, seed number 10 of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, in the 2nd round in a match scheduled for Saturday (27) which should also have broadcast by ESPN on Star+.
