It is Paris again, this autumnal Paris, an impregnable city for Rafael Nadal, a finalist in 2007, but never a bite in this tournament. He arrived with doubts, all those that come from being unemployed for almost two months, with the abdominal injury and with the nerves of changing the first diapers. But he wanted to prove himself, a real competition for the goal that is coming: the Masters Cup (from 13 to 20). And the shock was hard, a dose of reality that he didn’t have what it took to top Tommy Paul and his own lack of shooting. There is no bite in 2022 either. “This is always the same. If you play well, you win, if not, you lose. There were moments when he was playing well, but not in the key moments». They are not excuses, it is reality.
Nadal’s last official match was on September 6, in the round of 16 of the US Open. From then on, recovery time because he injured his abdominal again, accompany Roger Federer in his farewell and paternity. It can be understood that it started something cold at its premiere. It was difficult for him to enter, especially against a player like Paul who seems to be doing nothing for him (juggling and tricks with the racket between games), but who hits with conscience. The blows went away by little, but they went away, and against an opponent who had nothing to lose, even he found himself with a break almost at the beginning of the match.
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| 3 | 7 | 6 |
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| 6 | 6 | 1 |
It is Nadal, and although at the logical slow pace of someone who has been out of circulation for a long time, and with personal problems and emotions, he found calm and the path with patience as his main weapon. So much so, that he didn’t find his first game-winner until the seventh game. So cunning that he began to get more on court in the rival’s second serves to take over his mind. He intoned from the bottom and the right began to work.
Also stumbled was the second. He took advantage of some oversights by Paul to take the lead with a break, but the 31st in the world responded with strength and skill on the volley. He to row again. And he started to shake the service, and Paul started to believe it. Up to three breaking balls found the American, but the three were disrupted by Nadal, who is 2 in the world for that, among hundreds of other incredible things in the world of tennis.
Without anyone being able to get ahead, without anyone wanting to get carried away, the second round took on a whole lot of hardness. There was no room for too many flourishes, but there was work and work and work. Nadal faced a set ball in the eleventh game. Solved with passion and sanity. Nadal found himself with three other set points in the tie break. A direct serve disrupted the first. But Paul backhanded and found the hole in the Balearic. Almost two hours of meeting and there would be a third set, and many doubts.
The last leg of the game was for Paul. The American endorsed Nadal 6-1 in the third set. The Mallorcan, who had always choked on the indoor track in Paris – quite the opposite of Roland Garros – says goodbye right off the bat in his first game in almost two months, losing points to compete for number one against Carlos Alcaraz.
“You never know when your last game will be, especially at my age,” he left in words at the press conference. Already on his social networks, a message that everyone expects: “Goodbye, Paris, see you in May at Roland Garros.”
