After winning his final Madrid Open, Rafael Nadal once again captured the hearts of tennis fans with a sophisticated performance.
The five-time winner, playing in his final home event before retiring, defeated Pedro Cachin of Argentina 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 on Monday. After Cachin asked him for a memento from the match, the champion gave the world number 91 his shirt.
During the television show, Cachin was heard stating, “You made my dream come true for me; thank you.”
“May I take your shirt, towel, or something else? It’s not how the protocol is set up.”
“Yeah, I’ll give it to you, of course,” Nadal replied, putting one arm around his opponent. “I hope everything goes well for you.”
Following his handshake with the umpire, Nadal reached into his bag and get an extra shirt that he offered to Cachin.
The heartwarming scene received a lot of positive feedback, and Cachin expressed his happiness on social media thereafter.
According to tennis analyst Bastien Fachan, “this is very wholesome, and I would have done exactly the same at this stage of Nadal’s career” on X (previously Twitter).
However, when tennis analyst David Law criticized 29-year-old Cachin for requesting a garment from his idol, it sparked a heated debate.
The host of The Tennis Podcast wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Sorry, Pedro, asking for your opponent’s shirt at the net ain’t it.”
To which Philip Fama, a producer of tennis content, replied, “Is there no difference between football players switching jerseys? A tennis player wants to remember this because it was his dream! Without a doubt, that was it.
Law received a lot of angry replies to his tweet, and he even went so far as to say that he was “happy to agree to disagree with you all.”
Nadal has only lost once in 163 matches against players below the top 50 on clay since the 2005 season began.
Having lost all 11 of his 2024 matches going into the competition, Cachin’s two victories in Madrid this week marked his first of the year. However, those figures don’t quite capture the quality that the 29-year-old displayed, as he stopped nine of Nadal’s eighteen break points and tested the 22-time major champion.
“There are good moments and bad ones in life. I managed to make it through. After his thrilling third-round triumph, Rafael Nadal stated, “I think in the third set, with some mistakes, I was still able to be a bit unpredictable.”
I’m enjoying it now. I’ll have to wait and see how I wake up. I just try to keep dreaming; for me, playing at home is everything.
The prize for Nadal is a matchup in the last 16 on Tuesday against Jiri Lehecka, ranked thirty-one, who defeated the Mallorcan in a practise session a week prior.
Due to health concerns, the 37-year-old has only been able to play in eight games this season.
When asked if defeating Lehecka on Tuesday would surprise him, Rafael Nadal responded, “Yes, especially after today’s match.” I’ll be playing against a player that is quite skilled and has a strong serve.
Even though Nadal defeated number 11 Alex de Minaur this week, a player with a higher ranking, he thinks Lehecka’s ball is “another step up” in quality.
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