Rafael Nadal’s perfect season seeks a new milestone at the BNP Paribas Open. The Spaniard, who has won all 20 games played in the 2022 season, will face American Taylor Fritz this Sunday in search of the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 cup.
With three titles behind him this season (Melbourne, Australian Open, Acapulco), the Mallorcan’s momentum has not found a brake in the California desert. After overcoming the last two rounds in the decisive set, taking out Australian Nick Kyrgios and #NextGenATP Carlos Alcaraz, the Spaniard’s reflexes are sharp again.
In the conditions of the desert, the Spaniard finds protection, a natural shelter in which to push his body to the limit without paying an excessive toll. This factor has allowed him to arrive with a body full of rhythm, with battles in his legs, conserving enough gasoline in the tank. “I don’t feel physically tired,” Nadal declared, despite spending nearly six hours to resolve his last two matches.
“Dry conditions help me. I am a player who tends to sweat, it happens to me in Acapulco, even in Australia and formerly in Miami. When that happens I get dehydrated and suffer something else. Here I always feel good physically. I have never lost a match due to physical problems, because I felt tired. I’m pretty good, I can’t complain because I’m enjoying it”.
For the Spaniard, champion in the 2007, 2009 and 2013 editions, the opportunity to strike another historic blow is one step away. This Sunday he will opt to lift the 37th ATP Masters 1000 crown of his career, a record that would equal the record currently held by Serbian Novak Djokovic in the gold category of the ATP Tour.
“I’m in the final and I’m going to enjoy it,” explained the Spaniard, who is fighting again for the California cup nine years later. “Being in the Indian Wells final again means a lot to me. It is a very special place. I will try to be prepared. I know that mentally and physically I am going to need a very high level because [Fritz] He’s playing really well.”
After reaching the semifinals of Indian Wells for the second consecutive season, Fritz has taken another step to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final. In front of a crowd that yearns to return to crown one of their own, Taylor is the first American to advance to the Indian Wells final since John Isner in 2012 and will try to be the first American champion since Andre Agassi in 2001.
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Taylor faces the mission to stop real trains running on the tracks of Indian Wells. In a demanding semifinals he ended a streak of 13 consecutive victories of Andrey Rublev, and the bar rises to 20 games in a row that will feed Nadal’s legs this Sunday.
The Californian continues to write the best moment of his career. In a 2022 season in which he has won matches in every tournament, including his best Grand Slam record reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, the Indian Wells final marks another step in his ascension.
“Moments like this are the reason why I wanted to be an athlete,” explained Fritz, who will regain the status of No. 1 in American tennis this Monday. “The reason why he plays professional tennis. It’s the best part of all.”
The challenge of facing Nadal, of course, is a challenge of capital dimensions. The Spaniard dominates the ATP Head2Head history between the two 1-0, with the final played in Acapulco 2020 as the only direct precedent.
That match, his first ATP 500 final and the biggest played so far in his career, is still very much alive in Fritz’s mind. “I kind of destroyed myself trying to hit winners. I think my level now is much higher than it was back then. I think I won’t have the feeling of having to pull the trigger as much as I did then. Now I’m confident I can do more of my game if I face Rafa”.
“Circumstances will be different and we live at different times in our careers,” Nadal added, dismissing the influence of that match on Sunday’s final. “When the games happen in a short space of time, maybe you can have a reference. But if it happened two years ago, a lot of things have changed in our lives and careers.”
“I am prepared to face a difficult rival, who has been playing with great confidence. Since the beginning of the season he has been having a great level of tennis so it will be difficult. We are in a Masters 1000 final”.
Did you know…?
Rafael Nadal will try to become the third player to win four BNP Paribas Open titles in men’s singles. The Spaniard could follow in the footsteps of the Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Swiss Roger Federer, historical leaders of conquests in California with five crowns.
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