Winning two matches in a row on clay against Rafael Nadal It’s not exactly easy. Ask to Alex De Minaurwho in Madrid dreamed of joining a very small elite club, but who had to surrender to the furious impetus of the 37-year-old Mallorcan.
The 22-time slam champion took revenge for the match he lost a week ago, prevailing with a score of 7-6(6) 6-3 and qualifying for the third round, in which he will face the Argentine Cachin.
Rafa thus interrupted a streak of two consecutive victories for the Australian tennis player, who before his success at the ATP 500 in Barcelona had also defeated the Spaniard at the 2023 United Cup. The Majorcan’s victory therefore stopped the chances of achieving two consecutive successes on the red clay against the 14-time Roland Garros champion, a feat achieved by only three players in history.
The three tennis players capable of beating Rafa Nadal on clay for two consecutive matches
Beating Nadal on clay is in itself a very tough mission, doing it twice in a row is almost historic. In the twenty-year career of the former world number one, only three tennis players have managed to achieve this goal.
One of these is blue Fabio Fogninicapable of overtaking the Manacor champion in Rio de Janeiro in 2015 and repeating himself in Barcelona in 2016. He also succeeded Gaston Gaudiowho in the early stages of Nadal’s career was able to win three direct matches in a row (Hamburg 2003, Bastad 2004 and Buenos Aires 2005).
Third and last of course Novak Djokovicsucceeded twice (Madrid and Rome in 2011, and Monte Carlo and Roland Garros in 2015).
Numbers that testify once again to the tennis omnipotence of this extraordinary champion on clay, who has 475 victories and 46 defeats on this surface, worth 63 titles.
