Madrid (AFP)
Rafael Nadal did not give a gift to his young compatriot and Spanish tennis prospect Carlos Alcaraz, dispatched 6-1, 6-2 on his eighteenth birthday, for his entry into the Masters 1000 in Madrid on Wednesday .
To afford the right to compete with the absolute king of clay on this particular day for him, Alcaraz had dominated the French Adrian Mannarino (6-4, 6-0) two days earlier.
But against "Rafa", the gift quickly turned poisoned.
And what was presented as a shock of the 100% Iberian generations came to an end.
From the third game, after a spectacular extension point, the young Murcian visibly felt intercostal pain and immediately resorted to physiotherapy.
From that moment on, until he was led 5 games to 0, he did not score a single point.
Or a series of ten lost consecutively.
The protected of the winner of Roland-Garros 2003 and ex-world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero had to wait more than half an hour - 32 minutes precisely - to register his first game.
Things didn't improve much for him in the second set, although Alcaraz managed to grab Nadal's serve to close the gap to 3-1.
Especially since he immediately lost his white commitment in the wake.
And the world No.2 concluded the game in just over 1h15 on his third opportunity.
However the young Spaniard will surely remember the "Happy Birthday" sung by the sparse public of the "Caja Magica" as soon as the warm-up.
In the round of 16, Nadal will face either the young Italian Jannick Sinner or the Australian Alexei Popyrin.
© 2021 AFP