Rafael Nadal avenged his defeat to Barcelona's Alex de Minaur on Saturday with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 win over the Australian to extend his stay in Madrid in his final appearance at his home tournament, but admitted he still “needs time” to return to its competitive peak. Nadal's farewell tour has seen him face De Minaur twice in as many weeks, but this time the result was reversed as the 22-time Grand Slam champion advanced to a third-round meeting with Argentine Pedro Cachin. In front of a large crowd that included the King of Spain, French football icon Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior, Nadal dug deep to dismiss the world number 11, despite admitting ahead of the tournament that he still suffered from numerous physical problems. .
It was an impressive performance from the 37-year-old, but he immediately dismissed the idea that it would come anywhere close to his vintage form.
“No, not yet. It takes time,” Nadal said on court.
“I think I played at a good level of tennis for a while, I was able to do some positive things, but every now and then. Playing more than two hours means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke.
“I really believe that tennis has not been a problem in the last two years, more the physical problems. If I can play for weeks in a row, then I can see how competitive I can be. That is not the case yet.” Just take it step by step and see how I recover.”
Five-time Madrid champion Nadal took an early 2-0 lead but lost his advantage in controversial fashion when chair umpire Fergus Murphy refused to let the Spaniard challenge a De Minaur ball that was wrongly deemed to have gone in.
Murphy said Nadal had not clearly indicated his intention to challenge, while Nadal claimed he had stopped completely and gone around the mark with his racket, which he said was enough to provoke a challenge .
Despite Nadal's protests and his request to speak to the supervisor, Murphy would not budge and De Minaur's long ball was deemed to be in as the Australian withdrew and drew level.
The pair exchanged breaks once more before going into a tiebreak, which quickly took Nadal into a 6-2 lead. De Minaur saved four consecutive set points, but Nadal took his fifth chance to take the opening set after one hour and sixteen minutes of play.
The second frame started with a service break that went Nadal's way and he was soon up 3-1.
De Minaur fought hard but could not create break point opportunities on Nadal's serve and the match ended on a double fault from the Australian, his 33rd unforced error of the match.
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