Tennis-Nadal's Barcelona return ended by De Minaur (updated)

Tatton Asset Management

17/04/2024 18:59

(Adds Nadal quotes)
       April 17 (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal's hopes of winning the
Barcelona Open for a 13th time were dashed on Wednesday
following a 7-5 6-1 second round defeat  by Australian fourth
seed Alex de Minaur.
    The Spaniard was playing his first tournament since January
and had made a winning return on Tuesday with his first round
victory over Flavio Cobolli, but the 37-year-old was no match
for the in-form De Minaur.
    "Alex is a great player. In terms of tennis today, he was in
better shape than me," Nadal said.
        "He has really played at a very high level since the
beginning of the season. I think he has made a very important
step forward in his level of tennis."
  
    De Minaur began brightly, breaking in the opening game, but
Nadal broke back to make it 3-3 before the Australian made the
decisive break and held to take the first set, and had little
trouble as he strolled to win the second.
    "I think about the only thing I might have on Rafa on clay
is physicality at this stage of his career," De Minaur said.
    "I decided to try and make the rallies quite physical and
long, use my speed to my advantage. It's never easy against
him."
    Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, managed to win just
two points on De Minaur's serve in the second set.
    After being beaten on the court which is named after him,
the Spaniard was given a standing ovation as he made his exit.
    "At least, how things went, for me I had the chance to say
goodbye here on court," Nadal said.
        "That means a lot to me, because I probably felt one
week ago that I was not able to play in this event. That would
have been painful, so at least I played, I enjoyed the game, and
now is the moment to keep going."
  
    Nadal returned after almost a year's absence following hip
surgery to reach the quarter-finals in Brisbane in January but
he was forced into another break after suffering a muscle tear.
    The Spaniard's aim is to arrive in Roland Garros, where he
has triumphed a record 14 times, in peak condition.
    "I hope and believe I can be competitive in a few weeks,"
Nadal said. 
        "That's the way that I need to proceed today, and to
give me a chance to be ready at least to compete at Roland
Garros."
  
    De Minaur, 25, broke into the top 10 of the world rankings
for the first time in February following his run to the
Rotterdam Open final and then went on to successfully defend his
Mexican Open title.
    "I can probably say that I'm very, very fortunate that I
didn't play Rafa a couple of years earlier on the clay. It would
have been very, very different result. An amazing experience and
we move on. It's been a great year," De Minaur said.

 (Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
 ((Trevor.Stynes@thomsonreuters.com;))