After 21 years and a dozen titles, Rafael Nadal has played what is likely to be his final match at the Barcelona Open.
The Spaniard showed all his trademark defiance after falling behind early on against Alex De Minaur, but the toll taken by 16 injury-ravaged months became increasingly apparent in the latter stages, Nadal losing nine of the last 10 games as he slipped to a 7-5, 6-1 defeat.
While it was not the result the 37-year-old would have wished for at a club where the stadium court is named in his honour, the loss was neither unexpected nor disastrous. De Minaur, ranked 11th and mining a rich vein of form this season with 20 tour-level victories, was always likely to provide a sterner test of Nadal’s form and physicality than Flavio Cobolli, the 21-year-old Italian the former champion eased aside in his opening match.
Yet Nadal, who has said he is treating this year as his last on the professional tour, did enough to encourage the belief that, with a few more matches under his belt, he can bid farewell to Roland Garros next month in a manner befitting a 14-time champion.
This was only Nadal’s fifth competitive outing since undergoing surgery on a hip injury he suffered at last year’s Australian Open, since when he has been further hampered by separate hip and abdominal problems. But having struggled initially to find his range off the ground, leaving him vulnerable to De Minaur’s frequent drop shots and wrong-footers, Nadal began to strike the ball with real authority.
As his pace and depth led the fleet-footed Australian a merry dance along the baseline, Nadal won three straight games from 3-1 down. Had De Minaur not come up with a meaty plus-one forehand when facing a break point in the eighth game, the Spaniard would have served for the opening set. While it was not to be, it was a passage of play that promises to sustain Nadal in the weeks ahead as he builds towards Paris.
“I feel much more comfortable and much happier today than one week and a half ago,” said Nadal, whose prospects looked bleak when he withdrew from last week’s Monte Carlo Masters saying his body “would not allow” him to compete.
“I was able to manage to play two matches. Playing against a great player, when I was able to play, I was not very far [away], without a doubt. That’s the way that I need to proceed today, and to give me a chance to be ready at least to compete at Roland Garros.
“I don’t hide that, because in my tennis career I was able to play every single tournament at my highest level, trying to win tournaments, and I am not able to do it today. But I hope to be ready in a few weeks, and I’m going to try hard.”