Rafael Nadal (38 years old) showed in Bastad that, despite being far from his best moment, he has not lost any of the competitive spirit that has characterized him throughout his long and extensive career as a professional.
In fact, Yesterday Nadal had a chance to set a new record by becoming the player with the longest gap between his first and last ATP title.
The one from Manacor He debuted his ATP record at the Sopot tournament (Croatia) in August 2004.19 years and 11 months ago, but after his defeat against Nuno Borges, his last title remains Roland Garros, and that is ‘only’ 17 and 9 months pass between Sopot 2004 and Roland Garros 2022which places Nadal third in this ranking.
And this unique record is still held by another tennis legend, Roger Federer, who won his first title in Milan, in 2001, and his last, 18 years and 8 months later, in Basel, a tournament he won 10 times, in October 2019.
The second position is really surprising, because it is occupied by the French Gael Monfils. The veteran tennis player also inaugurated his record in Sopot, but a year later than Nadal, on August 1, 2005, and the last ATP title on his record was in Stockholm, which he won on October 22, 2023. In total, 18 years and almost 3 months. Almost nothing.
Source: La Verdad
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