His upcoming round of 16 has a family reunion in store for him: he will face world No.9 Félix Auger-Aliassime, who has been working for more than a year with his uncle and ex-coach, Toni Nadal.
Betrayed about ten days from Roland-Garros by his left foot, eaten away for more than fifteen years by a "chronic and incurable" illness in his words, Nadal is currently living an ideal first half of the Parisian fortnight.
He didn't drop a set in his first three matches, and dropped just 23 games in total.
Under the sun found on Friday and under the eyes of Zinedine Zidane, the Mallorcan spent just over two hours on the court, and committed only 13 unforced errors for 25 winning shots.
"I'm happy to win in three sets, for two and a half sets it was my best match of the tournament," said "Rafa".
Only tricky moment: in the third set, when he had a ball from 5 games to 0, he later had to dismiss a ball from 5 everywhere when he was serving to win the game.
© 2022 AFP