About three and a half years had passed since he was a child Carlos Alcaraz He appeared in the Madrid Masters 1000 as one of the great promises of the tennis planet. A man was waiting for him on the other side of the track. Rafael Nadal absolute king of clay and more adept at managing nerves.
Nadal won 6-1 and 6-2 in the round of 32. But the short series of conflicts tomorrow then, with only a few subsequent semifinals at Indian Wells 2022 won again by Rafa (6-4, 4-6 and 6-3) and a quarterfinal at Madrid 2022 for a mature Alcaraz (6-2, 1 – 6 and 6-3), may experience its end this Thursday. Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz meet in the semifinals of the Six Kings Slam in Riyadhin an internal hard court in Saudi Arabia.
It will be 20:00 (DAZN, Movistar Plus+, Movistar Deportes 2 and live on the MD website) in Spanish peninsular time, in a match that is not official but in which the possibility of access to the final is at stake to award its winner at least at six million dollars. The juicy prize of the tournament is, therefore, a strong reason for the tournament to have a small exhibition.
The fact is that the two players come to the game in different conditions. Nadal did this after announcing his retirement a few days ago as a professional at the end of the year, after the Davis Cup Finals where, as in the Paris Olympic Games, he will again be with Alcaraz. But since the French event he has not playedso we’ll have to see how the lack of film production will hold up. Increasing the minutes on the court, certainly, was one of his great goals before the appointment to the national team.
The sensations are different for an Alcaraz regaining confidence and form these past few weeks. After his early exit from the US Open, the reaction of the world number 2 has been total: he has accumulated twelve official victories and one loss since then, to which the victory against Rune was added.
This is also the first match for Nadal in the tournament, while Alcaraz has already added time on court this Wednesday. He did so with a total exhibition against Holger Rune whom he defeated 6-4 and 6-2 in a match where he performed at a very high level, with great confidence on the backhand and in total control of the court. That would be another handicap nadalas if Djokovic (rival at 6:30 pm Jannik Sinner in another explosive first semi-final) will start this tournament directly in the semi-finals. A semi-final that leaves an explosive rivalry between two Spaniards where This may be the last meeting between the two.
Source: La Verdad
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