One of the fittest tennis players of the moment recalled his first meeting with the Spanish legend: Nadal painted as a ‘cannibal’
All the big names on the circuit, with the exception of Novak Djokovic who is refining his preparation in view of the Majors in Paris and London, are busy at the ‘Caja Magica’ in Madrid for the prestigious Mutua Open, one of the most important Masters 1000 tournaments of the season. He also showed up at the starting line of the event a certain Rafa Nadal, already 5 times winner of the tournament in the pastwho went down on velvet in his debut match against 16-year-old Darwin Blanch.
The champion from Manacor, a real institution in those parts, could find on his way, during the tournament, a certain Stefanos Tsitsipas. That is, one of the fittest tennis players of the moment. Already capable of winning in Monte Carlo – where in the final he overtook Casper Ruud after having won in a daring way with Jannik Sinner in the semi-final – the Greek pushed himself to the last act also in Barcelona, when, however, the Norwegian took his revenge.
Interviewed by ‘Eurosport’ about the experience in the Catalan tournament, the 25-year-old from Athens recalled his first match ever against the left-handed Spaniard. A match that took place in Barcelona, and which remained etched in the memory of the current world number 7 for a long time.
Tsitsipas, the first memory of Nadal is a nightmare: “He intimidated me”
“At our first crossroads (finished 6-2 6-1 in favor of Nadal, ed) Rafa was ruthless, he had no mercy. I felt these sensations for the first time when I met him in Barcelona. I remember his energy after the coin toss, it seemed like the stadium belonged to him and I never felt the same feeling with many other tennis players I played against“, he began.
“It’s really intimidating. As a boy you are not used to these sensations. It’s something I still carry with me mentally. It took me a while to get used to his ball and to forget who I had on the other side of the net. I grew up watching him, I had a poster of him in my room“, commented Tsitsipas, who very honestly admitted how difficult it was, in 2018, to face an opponent who, in addition to his undeniable technical depth, also ‘advantaged’ a certain charismatic baggage.
The same thing that Rafa perhaps thinks, or at least hopes, of practicing on the courts of Roland Garros if he manages to participate – the last dream of an unparalleled career – in the next edition of the Parisian Major.
