Nadal gives tennis lesson to heir apparent Alcaraz at Madrid Open

Wednesday, 05 May 2021 at 17:10

Rafael Nadal was on fire Wednesday at the Madrid Open where he defeated heir apparent Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.

The match felt over before it even started because Alcaraz got injured fairly early in the match. The Spanish phenom tried to return a Nadal smash which caused him to overstretch and injury his abdominal area. That injury caused him to take MTO mid-game and he never recovered after that.

Nadal was able to go on a run after that, playing his signature aggressive style which Alcaraz could not counter. The first set was won by Nadal with 6-1. Alcaraz decided to continue to play and he did not call a follow up medical timeout. His play was severely hindered by his injury as he committed 13 errors hitting only 1 winner.

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The 2nd set started great for Nadal as he took a 3-0 lead. Alcaraz was able to get back into the match by pulling the break back but Nadal went on to break him once more. The young Spaniard tried his best but Nadal was simply too good for him especially after the injury.

He did managed to save a MP at 5-1 forcing Nadal to serve out the match which he did. A good match by Nadal despite it failing to live up to the buzz that was building up before the match. It was slated as a clash of generations between Spanish phenoms but the injury was too much for Alcaraz to handle at this time.