Rafael Nadal might be one of the most decorated tennis players in history but he believes he will be the underdog in his upcoming meeting with Carlos Alcaraz at the Madrid Open.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion is playing in his first clay event of the year after being sidelined from the Tour for over a month due to a rib injury. Nadal valiantly battled his way into the quarter-finals at the Caja Magica by outlasting David Goffin in a marathon encounter. Saving a total of four match points before prevailing 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(9), after more than three hours to claim his 1050th Tour win.
Awaiting Nadal in the last eight will be the player who many are tipping to be his successor in the future. 19-year-old Alcaraz is currently in the midst of a breakthrough year after achieving numerous accolades, including becoming the youngest player to win an ATP 500 title and the youngest ever to win the Miami Masters.
The showdown between the two will be their third meeting on the Tour and second in Madrid. Nadal, who is 16 years older than Alcaraz, has won their two previous meetings. However, this time round he believes the rising star has the advantage.
“I think that today, he is better than me and he has a good dynamic, a good momentum,” he said.
“I think I am a very realistic person, and that doesn’t make me not believe that I can win, but today I think that Alcaraz is in a better physical state of mind, and is more fit. I came here (to Madrid) without playing. He’s younger, so he has that extra energy.”
As a player who has dominated clay events in the past, Nadal’s current goals are different to that of the past due to his recovery from injury, as well as nursing a long-term foot condition. He suffers from Mueller-Weiss Syndrome which causes chronic mid foot pain.
“At the end the most important, is not whoever is better in that sense. For him (Alcaraz), yes, the momentum of keeping on winning, but for me, at the end of the day, it is who is going to be better in three weeks’ time, and that’s my goal.” Nadal explains.
“Unfortunately that’s my reality right now, and that’s the goals that I have, the goals that I set for myself, because I always said I never take tournaments like Madrid, Rome as preparation to other tournaments because they are very important tournaments to me.”
Despite being named the favorite by his idol, Alcaraz is taking nothing for granted when he plays who he believes is the world’s best player on clay. He secured his place in quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3, win over Cameron Norrie. Alcaraz’s win-loss record for the season currently stands at 25-3 and he has won three titles.
“He’s one of the best players of the world, and I would say the best player in the world on clay,” the world No.9 said of his fellow countryman. “Even though he says that I’m the favorite, that he’s not fit enough, that he comes from an injury, you always have to think of Rafa as the favorite because he has already won here five times and all of the things he has achieved on clay.’
“At the end of the day, I’m the new boy, the newcomer, the one that should not have any pressure when playing against one of the best players in history.”
Alcaraz is bidding to become the first teen to beat Nadal on a clay court. The veteran player currently boasts a 20-0 record against that age group on the ATP Tour.
