Barcelona. The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal easily won (6-2, 6-3) against the Italian Flavio Cobolli, 62nd in the world, this Tuesday in his return match to the ATP circuit in the Barcelona tournament, after an injury that made him out since early January.
Nadal, 37 years old and winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments, had reappeared at the beginning of 2024 at the Brisbane tournament (Australia) after almost a year out due to his physical problems.
There he played three games before getting injured again and since then he had only competed in an unofficial exhibition match, which he lost in March in Las Vegas against his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.
Absences from the competition have caused him to fall to 644th place in the world ranking.
“It’s getting harder and harder” to play after an injury, Nadal admitted after his victory. “Especially at this age, that makes things even more difficult,” he said.
In the second round of the Barcelona tournament, where Nadal has the record for titles (12), his opponent will be the Australian Álex De Miñaur, eleventh in the world and fourth seed.
That match, much more demanding in principle, will test the real state of Nadal, whose main short-term objective is to face Roland Garros in Paris with guarantees, where he mainly built his legend by lifting the Musketeers Cup 14 times.
Nadal had been delaying his return to competition on several occasions. His injury in Brisbane made him withdraw this year from the Australian Open, the Doha tournament and the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Monte Carlo.
In this Tuesday’s duel he responded very well from the beginning and scored the first set in 43 minutes (6-2) to the satisfaction of the local fans on the center court of the Real Club de Tenis de Barcelona, which also bears his name.
In the second he started with problems, losing his serve, but he soon controlled the situation and ended up scoring that last set 6-3.
Nadal, king of clay, had not won on his favorite surface on the ATP circuit since the match in June 2022 that gave him his fourteenth Roland Garros, then beating the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final of the Parisian tournament.
Rublev y Báez, KO
Although the road to a new title in Barcelona still seems long, one of its main rivals said goodbye this Tuesday. The Russian Andrey Rublev, world number 8 and second seed, was eliminated after losing 6-4 and 7-6 (8/6) to the American Brandon Nakashima (87th) in the second round.
It is the third tournament in a row in which Rublev, who was exempt from playing the first round in Barcelona, falls upon his entry into the fray, after also being eliminated in his first matches at the Masters 1000 in Miami and Monte Carlo.
Also saying goodbye to the competition was the Argentine tennis player with the highest ranking, Sebastián Báez (19th in the world), who lost his second round match against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (40th) by 5-7, 7-6 (10/8). ) and 6-2.
Also eliminated was Argentine Diego Schwartzman, former world number 8 and current 142nd, who was swept off the court in the first round by Serbian Dusan Lajovic (59th).
The joy of the day for the albiceleste delegation in this tournament came from Facundo Díaz (53rd), who surprised the Croatian Borna Coric (32nd) in the second by 6-2 and 7-5, thus sealing his ticket to the finals with solid tennis. round of 16
#Nadal #returns #injury #clear #victory #Cobolli #Barcelona
– 2024-04-22 10:53:50
