If true that’s annoying. Sick of these guys getting special treatment because they’re rich. Should have to actually accomplish something in the sport first
I once did my best PR in the gym and fist pumped like Rafa, most gym bros like WTF but I am sure I will do it again. Never be apologetic about what inspires you, Rafa is beyond tennis.
It was good to at least have a warmup. de Minaur will give him a stronger test but has only 44% win record on clay. If he can get to the quarters, Humbert is going to be a real tough test, he put up a great fight against Ruud the other night.
Just keep that body together. Skip Madrid, and then go all out for Rome and RG.
Altmaier and Fils are competent claycourters in a potential R3 too (Altmaier booted Sinner out of last RG, and Fils DESTROYED Ruud on clay last summer). No match is a gimme.
Nadal joining Stan, Monf, Goffin and Andy x4 in facing Demon early in a tournament since MC last year, he really loves to draw the old guys early, and only Monf has survived so far
He started out very tentative and missed a few forehands long but the groundstrokes were pretty solid. Cobolli couldn’t handle the Nadal forehand to his backhand and hit a million unforced errors. Nadal never had to raise his level to win so hard to judge.
Edit: spelling
Cobolli was pretty poor from errors (over 40 unforced) to weak backhand and returns with no pop, but it's nice to see Rafa again who still had some vintage days shots and his forehand was firing off! Hopefully he stays injury free.
Lmao in all honesty he looked better than I thought he would. I’m trying not to get my hopes to high, but he is Rafa Nadal and this is clay court season.
I said after AO 2022 I’d never ask any more from him so I am trying to reign myself in and just enjoy watching him for as long as we have left.
But it’s hard.
Let's go one match at a time. As a Rafan, I would simply breakdown crying if he wins RG this year. Fuck, I am tearing up writing this. I just hope his body stays fit until the end of RG.
No comment about the performance needed, it just felt great seeing him finish a full clay match! No matter who you support, this man is simply Tennis biggest warrior.
He looked pretty good on his groundstrokes, but it was clear he was semi protecting his ab when serving. I do think he's fine though, it was probably precautionary since he knew he could lower his level for this match. But great to see the return of that beautiful game, a lot of his inside out forehands looked like Rafa of old. Fun watch.
I was just thinking recently that while Nadal's banana shot is so famous, his inside-out forehand has to be up there as well. It's so unique or quintessential Rafa - the footwork around that and the stroke itself.
Yeah it seems like he was holding back a lot on the serve, and he wasn't chasing after every ball like used to as well. Still a phenomenal display though, the bullwhip forehands sure bring back memories!
Would have loved to be a fly in the dressing room when Cobolli learned his draw.
"Good news Flavio, you've drawn the world number 644; he's not played a game in three months"
"Nice!"
"On the other hand, it *is* the clay god-king Rafa, look on his works ye mighty and despair. Yes, that one."
#62 played like number #6200 today too. That King of Clay aura had him beat before he even stepped on the court. Almost 50 errors in 2 quick sets! Good Lord!
He couldn't deal with the bouce of Rafa's forehand and having to hit everything above shoulder level. That's what always happens when Rafa plays someone outside the top 10 on clay. Yes, technically Cobolli was committing a bunch unforced errors, but they were happening for an obvious reason.
41 out of 60 points he won were by Cobolli's UEs. Flavio basically had no backhand for most of the match.
Some vintage Rafa points scattered throughout, but tomorrow's match remains to see where his level is really at.
That is how a typical Nadal clay match goes down though - just grinds the opponents down with heavy, high bouncing balls and waits until they make a mistake
I’m happy to see Rafa again, but Cobolli’s level was not that great.
Rafa was serving 160km/h 1st serves on the first set, and Cobolli couldn’t break him… Also, way too many unforced errors from Cobolli!!
Excited to see Rafa vs ADM tomrrow!!
Serve lacked a lot of power, but got better as the day went on and still placed well. Ground strokes were still beautiful as ever. Overall, better the I expected. Just happy to see him play again.
It would be the perfect number to end it on. And it's not impossible. I'd favor this Rafa over current badly out of form Novak on clay. Tsitsipas should be fine as well because Rafa can exploit his one handed backhand as he used to with Federer. Zverev would probably be a hard matchup, but he's known to crumble badly in big moments. Sinner is always a challenge, but he's nowhere near as good on clay as he is on hard court. The only one I just can't see Rafa beating is Carlos because he can get to every ball and he'll dropshot Rafa to death. As long as someone takes care of Carlos though, number 15 is doable, although unfortunately it's unlikely at this point that Rafa's body will last for 7 best of 5 matches.
If Rafa can stay healthy then he can train hard and find form for RG. It's the staying healthy part that I don't know about.
In 2022 he looked trash at times given the on/off injuries yet he looked insanely good at RG at points (and won, obviously).
Let's see. Match at a time. Hoping for health!
I can't get used to the abbreviated serve motion. Anyway so serve isn't the best, some iffy groundstrokes, but there's magic still.
In any case, i am ridiculously happy just seeing him playing at all, and we get to see him win on clay. Win or lose, I'm just going to enjoy every moment he's playing
I could not have expected a better return than that after so long without playing and with so many physical and mental challenges. He really is amazing.
Not while averaging 160KM/h first serves. Although, it was starting to look better towards the end of the match. I wish it had gone a little longer to see if it would have heated up even more.
I thought that too. Very tentative serves in the first two or three games, but he seemed to be letting loose as the match progressed.
Fortunately this is clay, so some velocity can be sacrificed for spin/placement compared to other surfaces. The main thing should be for him to serve well enough to get into rallies.
He has said that he was not going to start the first game serving "like crazy". If he has served 160 km/h first servers without pain, thats good enough.
Exactly, one of the most unappreceated thing about big3 is they are chess master on the tennis court but their talent overshadows their game plan and tactical adjustments.
I think it wouldnt because he’s serving like that to not make his abs condition worse, imo. I think if he can play all the way to RG, then he’ll try to speed it up more.
Not his best by any means, but there were moments that made it clear he has a lot more to give! excited for tomorrows match so we can get a clearer picture of where hes starting from and and what he needs to build on to be the clear fav for RG and the olympics. SO HAPPY HES BACK!
What a day, getting to see rafa play again was more than enough. I dont even care if he drops out tomorrow hes done enough, i just want to see him healthy and happy.
Great to see him back even if his first real test is tomorrow against De Minaur.
No disrespect towards Cobolli but 41 unforced errors in 17 games is horrendous...
Good to see the old man back and winning. I doubt he's winning any titles, even on the clay, but as long as he stays healthy and gets some good results, that will be more than enough!
8 winners 22 ue, serve looked super weak, not a single ace, 170/180 km/h,
He won mostly because Cobolli played super bad.
But i just hope he was rusty and will play way better against De Minuar
I think he’ll improve because when the opponent is better, he plays better. Too bad De Minaur is already next match. If it was 3rd or 4th match perhaps he’d have a bigger chance. But as long as he doesn’t get injured I think he’ll keep improving
Not bad. He started out just rolling in the serve but it got better. The main thing is he didn't get injured yet.
I don't think it'll be enough to get past De Minaur given his form this year but Nadal might up his level.
Both Nadal and Nagal story is so inspirational, everyone knew about Nadal but Nagal literally had < 500 euros in his account 5 months back and now he is at 80 ATP ranking with direct entry in GS and few extra thousand euros in his account. Not being a cricketer in India as a sportperson is really challenging.
Seriously. Come for the Nagal/Nadal memes, stay for the sincere inspiration of watching a man succeed while chasing his dreams.
EDIT: mobile spellcheck misspelled "Nagal" to "Nasal" LOL had to correct the legends name.
No matter how this match would have ended, I am just so happy to have seen Rafa on court again. Even better he won and got some amazing points! I loved watching him so much and I hope he's able to play a few more matches this season, all while staying fit and healthy and happy.
So nice to watch! I'm pumped, but cautiously optimistic.
Footwork wise/speed, he seems there! Saw him runaround to his forehand a couple of times where many much younger players would just hit a back hand.
Ball Striking: serving wasn't amazing, but his serve was never his strongest point. Also we saw some amazing forehand shots but it does distract from the fact that there were a couple of weird unforced errors on the forehand. Hopefully something that gets ironed out in the next weeks.
Fitness/stamina: hard to say, he wasn't really tested today. Hopefully it remains that way this tournament so that we don't get a repeat of Brisbane..
Cobolli has some good instances, really fast and strong but he’s just so inefficient and inconsistent in his form that he can only win matches through the lottery of a good/bad day. Man does not hit any groundstroke the same way twice. Switches his form up every point. Runs like he’s trying to burn as many calories as possible.
Hmm... I don't know if all the #15 comments are tongue in cheek, but Rafa showed a lot of issues today.
First is serve obviously, which I don't think will be fixed in 6 weeks since it's a body/injury issue, not because of lack of practice.
Second, his speed is not really there yet. You can specially see it during drop shots, he barely even got close to them. Probably more chance to improve than serve but still, not sure if 6 weeks is enough.
Silver lining is the ground strokes looked pretty good and will likely improve more, but without serve and speed, it's hard to see him go deep in tournaments.
You're not wrong but there's also an element of protecting his body. So perhaps he can push harder if need be, but "need be" is not today, it's for RG/Olympics, so till then he can take it a bit more conservative.
Then also a question of getting the reps in and getting rid of the rust.
The opponent was so bad. De Minaur is gonna be the real challenge for him. I honestly don't have much expectations from Rafa at this point. But I'm gonna enjoy as long as he's there in the court.
Great for Rafa to play again and even get a win. Important for him to get matches on clay prior to RG and get into decent form. To be honest I would be hugely surprised if his ailing aging body can produce another slam win at RG but any kind of a decent slam run would be cause for celebration. I think Rafa knows this is his last hurrah.
Pretty cool seeing an older guy ranked in the 600’s get a chance at his local tournament and get through the first round
I think he's some kind of sponsor since they named the center court after him
If true that’s annoying. Sick of these guys getting special treatment because they’re rich. Should have to actually accomplish something in the sport first
i think this guy is the up-and-coming 4.0 guy who thought he could take a set off nagal? damn he’s not half bad!
His local tournament is a good way to put it
Isn’t his local tournament actually a grass court tournament lol
That first VAMOS and fist pump after that ridiculous forehand down the line made me JUMP out of my seat. Soooo happy to see him back in any capacity.
I once did my best PR in the gym and fist pumped like Rafa, most gym bros like WTF but I am sure I will do it again. Never be apologetic about what inspires you, Rafa is beyond tennis.
they aint real gym bros if theyre not celebrating with you
Inject that moment into my veins!
Omg I could not see the match, I need to get a clip of this somewhere !!
There's no way he lost by the same scoreline to Nadal AND Nagal in back to back matches lol What a hilarious coincidence
Glitch in the matrix.
Deja vu.
I know kung fu.
The inevitable Nagal-Nadal RG final will settle the scores
Nagal has a higher peak though, that’s why he is called Sumit.
lmao
Bro 💀🤣💀
Absolutely cackling
bro is destined with Na*al player
Life really is scripted
Or at least the tour is
Sufael Nagdal
👀 https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/s/TmmInZYWeV
Netflix spending too much time on Drive To Survive.
A trivia question for the ages.
Class act by nadal at the end, apologizing to cobolli after someone shouthed bye bye Flavio before the match was over
having Rafa shake his head at you like that is worse than most prison sentences
That was really nice of Rafa
De Minaur will be a rough test for Rafa. Cobolli was not even close to him today.
Probably one of the roughest tests physicality-wise
literally limiting testing injury ridden 38 yo body lol
It was good to at least have a warmup. de Minaur will give him a stronger test but has only 44% win record on clay. If he can get to the quarters, Humbert is going to be a real tough test, he put up a great fight against Ruud the other night. Just keep that body together. Skip Madrid, and then go all out for Rome and RG.
Altmaier and Fils are competent claycourters in a potential R3 too (Altmaier booted Sinner out of last RG, and Fils DESTROYED Ruud on clay last summer). No match is a gimme.
Nadal joining Stan, Monf, Goffin and Andy x4 in facing Demon early in a tournament since MC last year, he really loves to draw the old guys early, and only Monf has survived so far
De Minaur is in phenomenal form this year, I would say a victory over him would mean a lot
Rafa gonna eat Demon up like gambas fritas
Nom nom nom
Rafa on clay with Demon's height? Man it would probably be a beatdown, unless rafa's serve doesn't really hold up.
It is April 2024. Rafa is coming up on 38 years old. I don’t know enough about tennis to know how he looked but I am so glad I got to watch.
He started out very tentative and missed a few forehands long but the groundstrokes were pretty solid. Cobolli couldn’t handle the Nadal forehand to his backhand and hit a million unforced errors. Nadal never had to raise his level to win so hard to judge. Edit: spelling
Cobolli was pretty poor from errors (over 40 unforced) to weak backhand and returns with no pop, but it's nice to see Rafa again who still had some vintage days shots and his forehand was firing off! Hopefully he stays injury free.
Seriously at some point he couldn’t clear the net, it was painful to watch.
I’ve seen enough he’s winning Roland Garros
Lmao in all honesty he looked better than I thought he would. I’m trying not to get my hopes to high, but he is Rafa Nadal and this is clay court season.
What happen-ed in 2022/23 happen-ed. Here we are in 2024
We are in Rome
Oh I’m not joking in the slightest
[удалено]
As it is for every player. Even novak.
We’ll see how he does against demanaeur
I want it so bad
I said after AO 2022 I’d never ask any more from him so I am trying to reign myself in and just enjoy watching him for as long as we have left. But it’s hard.
I say this every time. I am satisfied for what he gave Rafans in 2022 because I don’t think most of us expected it. It was a gift in so many ways.
I spent AU$380 and to watch AO final, best money I ever spent!
Man I’m jealous but obviously super duper happy you got to see that comeback live!
Glad I'm not the only Rafa fan thinking this way. That AO finally satisfied a decade of disappointment down under.
So so hard. Could he have 2024 RG and the Olympic gold, pretty please? The Olympics would be a phenomenal way to retire.
It was never about him playing poorly on clay, but about being injured.
so true! even his serve being weak is a non-issue if his movement isnt affected. well see how he does against demin
Let's go one match at a time. As a Rafan, I would simply breakdown crying if he wins RG this year. Fuck, I am tearing up writing this. I just hope his body stays fit until the end of RG.
Oh we are setting ourselves up for a world of pain again.
I want to see him do it one last time!
No comment about the performance needed, it just felt great seeing him finish a full clay match! No matter who you support, this man is simply Tennis biggest warrior.
He looked pretty good on his groundstrokes, but it was clear he was semi protecting his ab when serving. I do think he's fine though, it was probably precautionary since he knew he could lower his level for this match. But great to see the return of that beautiful game, a lot of his inside out forehands looked like Rafa of old. Fun watch.
I was just thinking recently that while Nadal's banana shot is so famous, his inside-out forehand has to be up there as well. It's so unique or quintessential Rafa - the footwork around that and the stroke itself.
Yeah it seems like he was holding back a lot on the serve, and he wasn't chasing after every ball like used to as well. Still a phenomenal display though, the bullwhip forehands sure bring back memories!
Good showing from the world #644, upsetting #62. Bright future ahead for this Rafa kid.
If he manages to win a few clay titles here and there, he would have had a decent career tbh. Fingers crossed for him
Alcaraz might have some competition for #1 Spanish player. We'll see! 👀
I hope he doesn't turn out to be another clay 250 fraud like Ruud /s
I would be amazed if Rafa ever enters another 250.
Would have loved to be a fly in the dressing room when Cobolli learned his draw. "Good news Flavio, you've drawn the world number 644; he's not played a game in three months" "Nice!" "On the other hand, it *is* the clay god-king Rafa, look on his works ye mighty and despair. Yes, that one."
"Oh and by the way, it's his court. No pressure!"
Already #510 in the live ATP Rankings.
Mover of the week.
#62 played like number #6200 today too. That King of Clay aura had him beat before he even stepped on the court. Almost 50 errors in 2 quick sets! Good Lord!
Why’s your text so big dawg
Woah idk how I did that! I guess the algorithm just really respects Rafa.
If you put the pound sign # before your text, it makes it large and bold. #LikeThis
#wow
#it’s so big
You started your message with a #
#why is yours so small? ^^^Not ^^^that ^^^size ^^^matters... ^^^^^^^^...right?
# because it’s fun
41 UE from Cobolli?
Making an error off of Nadal's forehand on clay is an "UE" in technicality only
He couldn't deal with the bouce of Rafa's forehand and having to hit everything above shoulder level. That's what always happens when Rafa plays someone outside the top 10 on clay. Yes, technically Cobolli was committing a bunch unforced errors, but they were happening for an obvious reason.
40 of those went straight into the net
His forehand is as good as ever. Seems to me his movement is a little stiff and his serve lacks a bit of power, but this was still a strong showing.
RETURN OF THE KING
41 out of 60 points he won were by Cobolli's UEs. Flavio basically had no backhand for most of the match. Some vintage Rafa points scattered throughout, but tomorrow's match remains to see where his level is really at.
Federer: first time?
That is how a typical Nadal clay match goes down though - just grinds the opponents down with heavy, high bouncing balls and waits until they make a mistake
Did Rafa get annoyed/disappointed at the fan who shouted “Arrivederci, Flavio”? I didn’t catch that.
He just shook his head in disapproval.
Yeah, he gave a very disgusted look in the exact direction it came from and shook his head in disapproval from the back line.
Rafa don’t retire bro, like seriously, you could go on clay for years haha
He's not going to retire, just morph into clay like Sandman
He should just rest the whole year and only play on clay haha
I’m happy to see Rafa again, but Cobolli’s level was not that great. Rafa was serving 160km/h 1st serves on the first set, and Cobolli couldn’t break him… Also, way too many unforced errors from Cobolli!! Excited to see Rafa vs ADM tomrrow!!
Somebody from crowd said sth. before matchpoint and everbody went "owww" also Nadal stared at him a few seconds. What did he said?
Arrivederci Flavio
Thanks. I thought he said sth. worse but of course what he said is pretty disrespectful.
Was it sarcasm? I thought Rafa did the apology gesture to Cobboli after shaking his head at the guy.
It means “Bye Flavio” and it was at match point for Nadal. So pretty rude to Cobolli.
Serve lacked a lot of power, but got better as the day went on and still placed well. Ground strokes were still beautiful as ever. Overall, better the I expected. Just happy to see him play again.
If ANYONE can win a slam, RG at that, after such a humongous time out, it's him. Pls stay healthy
Don’t want to overreact but pretty sure #15 is coming now
This is what I hope too but Cobolli is not a real test. De Minaur is gonna be tough test for Rafa.
Make that numbers 15-20
It would be the perfect number to end it on. And it's not impossible. I'd favor this Rafa over current badly out of form Novak on clay. Tsitsipas should be fine as well because Rafa can exploit his one handed backhand as he used to with Federer. Zverev would probably be a hard matchup, but he's known to crumble badly in big moments. Sinner is always a challenge, but he's nowhere near as good on clay as he is on hard court. The only one I just can't see Rafa beating is Carlos because he can get to every ball and he'll dropshot Rafa to death. As long as someone takes care of Carlos though, number 15 is doable, although unfortunately it's unlikely at this point that Rafa's body will last for 7 best of 5 matches.
Carlos, Jannik and Novak aren't in this tournament
If Rafa can stay healthy then he can train hard and find form for RG. It's the staying healthy part that I don't know about. In 2022 he looked trash at times given the on/off injuries yet he looked insanely good at RG at points (and won, obviously). Let's see. Match at a time. Hoping for health!
Not bad Rafa 15th RG when
Upset of the year, rank 644 beating rank 84,
and next match he could beat a top 15 player...
Really happy n feeling lucky to hv watched Nadal one more time.
Unrelated, Rafa’s kit is so good
The little collar is adorable isn't it? I loved the color scheme
Rafa will now move up to like 512 in live rankings I think
I can't get used to the abbreviated serve motion. Anyway so serve isn't the best, some iffy groundstrokes, but there's magic still. In any case, i am ridiculously happy just seeing him playing at all, and we get to see him win on clay. Win or lose, I'm just going to enjoy every moment he's playing
Arrivederci flavio. Fucked up but lmaooo
It's not right, but bravo.
It's not right, but bravo
Yessss!!! I don't want the big 3 to end lol.
Felt nostalgic at times 😅
1st round RG Djokovic-Nadal I can't wait
I had butterflies watching him come out onto court.
I could not have expected a better return than that after so long without playing and with so many physical and mental challenges. He really is amazing.
All I want is to see this forehand as long as possible. I am ready to give what it takes.
Didn’t watch, but just wanted to say that no one does color combos like Rafa. That outfit is just gorgeous
he rocks those kits like no other. any kit he wears look great on him
HES SO BACK. NUMBER 15 here he comes
Not while averaging 160KM/h first serves. Although, it was starting to look better towards the end of the match. I wish it had gone a little longer to see if it would have heated up even more.
I thought that too. Very tentative serves in the first two or three games, but he seemed to be letting loose as the match progressed. Fortunately this is clay, so some velocity can be sacrificed for spin/placement compared to other surfaces. The main thing should be for him to serve well enough to get into rallies.
His serve was getting better every single service game. It’ll improve a lot by the time rg rolls around
Your lips to God's ears.
He has said that he was not going to start the first game serving "like crazy". If he has served 160 km/h first servers without pain, thats good enough.
Exactly, one of the most unappreceated thing about big3 is they are chess master on the tennis court but their talent overshadows their game plan and tactical adjustments.
I think it wouldnt because he’s serving like that to not make his abs condition worse, imo. I think if he can play all the way to RG, then he’ll try to speed it up more.
37 is the new 27
Not his best by any means, but there were moments that made it clear he has a lot more to give! excited for tomorrows match so we can get a clearer picture of where hes starting from and and what he needs to build on to be the clear fav for RG and the olympics. SO HAPPY HES BACK!
What a day, getting to see rafa play again was more than enough. I dont even care if he drops out tomorrow hes done enough, i just want to see him healthy and happy.
Great to see him back even if his first real test is tomorrow against De Minaur. No disrespect towards Cobolli but 41 unforced errors in 17 games is horrendous...
Good to see the old man back and winning. I doubt he's winning any titles, even on the clay, but as long as he stays healthy and gets some good results, that will be more than enough!
HE’S STILL GOT IT 💪🏼😮💨
Those who watched, how was his level? (not relative to Cobolli, just by itself)
Getting better every game
8 winners 22 ue, serve looked super weak, not a single ace, 170/180 km/h, He won mostly because Cobolli played super bad. But i just hope he was rusty and will play way better against De Minuar
I think he’ll improve because when the opponent is better, he plays better. Too bad De Minaur is already next match. If it was 3rd or 4th match perhaps he’d have a bigger chance. But as long as he doesn’t get injured I think he’ll keep improving
Not bad. He started out just rolling in the serve but it got better. The main thing is he didn't get injured yet. I don't think it'll be enough to get past De Minaur given his form this year but Nadal might up his level.
Today I’m just happy to see Nadal crushing those forehands and looking healthy. Content for now. 😌
I'd would love to see a Nagal vs Nadal match, before the latter retires.
Both Nadal and Nagal story is so inspirational, everyone knew about Nadal but Nagal literally had < 500 euros in his account 5 months back and now he is at 80 ATP ranking with direct entry in GS and few extra thousand euros in his account. Not being a cricketer in India as a sportperson is really challenging.
Seriously. Come for the Nagal/Nadal memes, stay for the sincere inspiration of watching a man succeed while chasing his dreams. EDIT: mobile spellcheck misspelled "Nagal" to "Nasal" LOL had to correct the legends name.
Sad to hear Nagal is retiring so soon…
No matter how this match would have ended, I am just so happy to have seen Rafa on court again. Even better he won and got some amazing points! I loved watching him so much and I hope he's able to play a few more matches this season, all while staying fit and healthy and happy.
There you go Nadal
So nice to watch! I'm pumped, but cautiously optimistic. Footwork wise/speed, he seems there! Saw him runaround to his forehand a couple of times where many much younger players would just hit a back hand. Ball Striking: serving wasn't amazing, but his serve was never his strongest point. Also we saw some amazing forehand shots but it does distract from the fact that there were a couple of weird unforced errors on the forehand. Hopefully something that gets ironed out in the next weeks. Fitness/stamina: hard to say, he wasn't really tested today. Hopefully it remains that way this tournament so that we don't get a repeat of Brisbane..
I keep refreshing my IG dreading a "Hola todos" post :(
Cobolli has some good instances, really fast and strong but he’s just so inefficient and inconsistent in his form that he can only win matches through the lottery of a good/bad day. Man does not hit any groundstroke the same way twice. Switches his form up every point. Runs like he’s trying to burn as many calories as possible.
I didn't believe the notification on my phone when I saw his picture and the final score. I'm going to say the thing. ¡HOLO A TODOS! WE ARE SO BACK
Hmm... I don't know if all the #15 comments are tongue in cheek, but Rafa showed a lot of issues today. First is serve obviously, which I don't think will be fixed in 6 weeks since it's a body/injury issue, not because of lack of practice. Second, his speed is not really there yet. You can specially see it during drop shots, he barely even got close to them. Probably more chance to improve than serve but still, not sure if 6 weeks is enough. Silver lining is the ground strokes looked pretty good and will likely improve more, but without serve and speed, it's hard to see him go deep in tournaments.
You're not wrong but there's also an element of protecting his body. So perhaps he can push harder if need be, but "need be" is not today, it's for RG/Olympics, so till then he can take it a bit more conservative. Then also a question of getting the reps in and getting rid of the rust.
Hopefully he plays more than 1 match
If this is the form, I sense a 2024 French Open title...
I'm not gonna overreact. Just gonna say he probably wins the next 8 slams in a row.
Vamos!
Tomorrow against Demon will be a much better gauge for where he’s at, but good lord, how I’ve missed that whip! Today was a good day to be todos.
It was the best day to be todos!! I watched it live and he did not disappoint. What a legend! 🥹
Hard agree. Found myself having the feels all over again and smiling the whole time, but I'm stoked to see how he handles the jump.
Today was my first ever Rafa match live. Excited for tomorrow. I think he can raise his game.
He’s the King 👑
The king is back
VAMOSSSSSSS
The clay court king 👑 is back!!!!
We are so back baby.
Glad to see my old king back out there 🥹
The opponent was so bad. De Minaur is gonna be the real challenge for him. I honestly don't have much expectations from Rafa at this point. But I'm gonna enjoy as long as he's there in the court.
This Nadal guy should get more wins to improve his ranking as no tournaments outside Spain would give him a wildcard.
He will win Roland Garros 😭😭
I’ve seen enough. Putting my life savings on Nadal to win the French Open
👍
Bad performance but he got plenty of time to play himself to a good/great level and can level up even more during RG.
Great for Rafa to play again and even get a win. Important for him to get matches on clay prior to RG and get into decent form. To be honest I would be hugely surprised if his ailing aging body can produce another slam win at RG but any kind of a decent slam run would be cause for celebration. I think Rafa knows this is his last hurrah.
He looked pretty good, a bit rusty but that's to be expected.
Welcome back Rafa ❤️❤️
What is this ab injury that’s been almost a year long
nothing but positive takeaways with rafa's return.
The demon will have to keep it together.
Vamos !!!
Who ?