After a quarterfinal exit in Monte-Carlo, his first clay-court event of 2021, Rafael Nadal is once again rounding into top form on the European clay swing—and what better place to do it than in Barcelona, on the court named in his honor. The Spaniard was made to work for his 12th Barcelona Open singles title, as he was pushed to a deciding set in three of his five matches at the ATP 500 event, but the week ended with the familiar sight of Nadal biting into a trophy on the red dirt.
The week before, Nadal dropped a three-setter to the red-hot Andrey Rublev at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Five days later, he was put on upset alert again in Barcelona when qualifier and ATP No. 107 Ilya Ivashka took the opening set in their meeting. But Nadal righted the ship to advance, then made a statement with a bagel first set over Kei Nishikori in the Round of 16. While the smooth sailing ended there against the Japanese, Nadal battled through to a 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 victory, then cruised past Cameron Norrie and Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the final.
In a rematch of their 2021 Australian Open semifinal, Nadal was able to turn the tables and stave off a Stefanos Tsitsipas comeback to claim his first trophy of 2021 with a 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory—but not before saving a match point on serve at 4-5 in the third.
Here's more on the Barcelona champ.
The Rafael Nadal File
Age: 34
Birthplace: Manacor, Mallorca, Spain
Current Ranking 2
Career-High Ranking: 1 (August 2008)
Best US Open Finish: Champion (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019)
The Baseline
- Both Nadal and Tsitsipas saved championship points in Sunday's final, with Nadal briefly one point away from closing the match out in straight sets. Nadal was the first to create a match point on his own serve, however, and he closed it out on his racquet when a Tsitsipas forehand floated long at 6-5, ad-in, in the decider. There were 25 break points in the roller-coaster match, with Nadal converting on four of 12, and Tsitsipas two of 13.
- Nadal and Tsitsipas also met in the 2018 Barcelona final, with Nadal dominating the then-19-year-old Greek, who was ranked outside the Top 60, by a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline. The match was Tsitsipas' first ATP final, and the pair have now met nine times, with Nadal holding a 7-2 lifetime edge.
- The Spaniard's 12 Barcelona singles titles are his second-most at any ATP event, outside of his 13 at Roland-Garros. In his 11 previous Barcelona title runs, he never dropped more than one set. The stadium court at his home-country event was renamed "Pista Rafa Nadal" in 2017.
- Nadal's four US Open men's singles titles are his second-most at a major, behind his record haul in Paris. But he had to wait the longest for glory in New York, with his 2010 triumph completing his career Grand Slam. By that point, he had already won Wimbledon twice (2008, 2010) and the Australian Open once (2009). His trophy count remains at two and one, respectively, at those events.
- After making the difficult decision to skip the 2020 US Open, Rafael Nadal made the most of his time away from competition to prep for the fall French Open. After six full months without an ATP match, Nadal reached the quarterfinals at the Rome Masters before storming to his 13th Roland-Garros crown without dropping a set. After losing to Diego Schwartzman in straight sets in Rome, Nadal returned the favor in the Paris semifinals, then dominated Novak Djokovic, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5, in the title match.
- Nadal has kept a limited tournament schedule following the pandemic suspension, playing in four events in 2020 (Rome Masters, Roland-Garros, Paris Masters, ATP Finals) and three in 2021 (Australian Open, Monte-Carlo Masters, Barcelona). He holds an 11-2 record in 2021, and is now back up to No. 2 in the ATP rankings, after briefly ceding his spot to Daniil Medvedev in March. According to the ATP Tour, Nadal first cracked the Top 10 on April 25, 2005—now, 813 weeks later, he's yet to drop out.
They Said It!
"I think I never played a final like this in this tournament, so it means a lot to me against a player like him, [after what] he achieved in Monte Carlo and [that he reached] the final here without losing a set. It is an important victory for me. I think I have been increasing my level during the whole week and this victory confirms it." — Nadal said after the match, as quoted on ATPTour.com.
