A victory and then gone. For his big comeback on clay in Barcelona, Rafael Nadal will not go further than the 2nd round, stopped in two sets (7-5, 6-1) by Alex De Minaur, much more in his legs and who exploited to marvel at the physical weaknesses of a Spaniard who is still a little tender.
Easy for his entry into the running against the Italian Cobolli, 63rd in the world (6-2, 6-3), “Rafa” expected a much more complicated test against the 11th in the world: “It will be a very demanding match, there will be a rhythm and I don't know if I can follow it. » And it didn't fail from the start.
First point and first cushion from the Australian who really didn't want to spare his opponent of the day. Manacor's Taurus signs, head down on that first run forward did not indicate anything good. His break conceded from the start either.
A physical battle lost in advance
We had to wait for a big rally won and a raised fist when erasing a double break point, 10 minutes later, to sound the revolt. On his momentum, Nadal resumed the Australian's service in front of an audience committed to his cause, in a stadium... in his name since 2017. We then slowly saw the great Nadal again in small touches, with very rounded forehands. and powerful winning backhands. Opposite, De Minaur, not the most comfortable on a surface where he has never gone beyond the 2nd round at Roland-Garros, even if his recent progress has taken him to the quarterfinals at Monte-Carlo, started to suffer.
But in the money time at 5-5, it was his physical freshness and the sequence of very high-level matches that made the difference against Nadal making a mistake in extended exchanges at the worst of times ( 7-5).
The arm muscles less protruding than in the good old days and the torso a little more rounded already marked by the sweat of a first set lasting more than an hour, the man with 22 Grand Slam coronations then fell slowly but surely in this physical fight proposed by De Minaur. In this game, and at the dawn of his 38th birthday, with only one real match in his legs for 4 months, it is impossible to compete against one of the best “rowers” on the circuit. Especially without 100% service, the Spaniard was content to place the ball on his first at around 160 km/h as he had announced before the tournament.
Too big a weak point at this level. Too often dominated in his engagements, the Spaniard ended up breaking twice at 1-1 then 3-1 to see De Minaur definitively fly away (7-5, 6-1). For its first test on ocher, “Rafa” simply seemed too short. A time capable of being at the level, but made up for by an irremediable lack of physical freshness. But the Spaniard had already seen just before the meeting doubting his ability to “keep up with the pace”. For the moment, he is not capable of it. But can he still take a step forward on this point? That's the question, six weeks before the start of Roland-Garros.