Is Rafael Nadal a human being? The question is more legitimate than ever after his stunning victory over Sebastian Korda when he entered the race in Indian Wells on Saturday evening. Pushed to his limits by the son of Petr Korda, the Spaniard got away with a mouse hole in the best of three sets (6-2, 1-6, 7-6). It took him 2h28 to get out of the claws of the American, who waved a little from the roof towards the end, and find Daniel Evans on the next lap.
The factual truth is that Nadal almost lost his first match of 2022. After dominating the ATP 250 tournament in Melbourne, the Australian Open and the ATP 500 in Acapulco, the Mallorcan had to go through the box defeated one day or another. This almost took place this Saturday, March 12. Led 5-2 and on the verge of the abyss in the 3rd set, the native of Manacor made a “Medvedev-Melbourne” to poor Korda in the end of this crazy and intense match. Yet passed two points from the match at 5-3 and 5-4, the 38th in the world was irretrievably caught up in the pressure. He served twice for the match and did not conclude.
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This was confirmed during the decisive game of the last act, an unbreathable moment for the public and tennis lovers. From 1-1, the two men completely lost their footing behind their commitments. Korda gave the first, then Nadal responded with two gifts. At 3-2, Korda should have escaped and led 5-2. But no, Nadal is still back following two badly negotiated points by his young rival.
At 4-3, the man with 21 Grand Slams whistled the end of recess by starting the point machine to get his 16th success of the year. Dropped by his forehand in very important moments, especially when he found himself in a position to hit penalty kicks, Korda can harbor big regrets overall. He had a Nadal at the end of his line. He couldn’t pull it up.
Before doing battle in this final worthy of a boxing fight, the two players had produced good tennis each on their side during the first two rounds. Nadal had pocketed the first act, before completely disappearing in the second. Groggy, and even mentally affected, he had dropped the flag from 2-2 in the last set after a marathon game behind his commitment. A game where he had finally cracked. Dropped by his serve, his forehand, his backhand, the Spaniard did not look like much on the court at that time. Then the improbable happened…
Sebastian Korda served twice for the match against Rafael Nadal, before losing in three sets in the 2nd round of the Indian Wells Masters 1000
Credit: Getty Images
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