Fourteen years after achieving his first title in Montreal, after beating Andre Agassi in the final, Rafael Nadal achieved the fifth in the Canadian Masters 1000 by winning over Daniil Medvedev 6-3 and 6-0, in one hour and 10 minutes . It is also the 35th tournament in this category, and two more than Djokovic, second in this qualification, and number 83 of his career. The world number two, which reappeared after losing with Federer in the Wimbledon semifinals, is thus the first to hit on the road to the United States Open, the port of arrival on the American hard track tour.

Nadal offered a convincing performance to deflate an opponent who presented himself with magnificent endorsements. Little had to do, however, the tennis player who went through the tournament with overwhelming pace with which he was subjected by a rival rather than credited in this type of situation. Medvedev weighed on his debut in the final of a 1000 Masters and did not meet the expectations he himself stirred on the eve of the game. For the first time, Nadal successfully defended a fast surface title.

Both arrived by itineraries other than the final match. While Nadal had in Fabio Fognini, eleventh in the ranks, his biggest stumbling block, Medvedev, ninth, claimed two top ten in transit to his first presence in the final of a Masters 1000: Dominic Thiem, number four of the ranking, and his compatriot Karen Khachanov, eighth, whom he defeated in the semifinals. Nadal also saw how Fognini was injured in one foot in his quarterfinal match and did not have to play the penultimate round for Gael Monfills' withdrawal, injured in an ankle during his bloody battle against Roberto Bautista. Everything went, like this, to request by mouth, for the headliner in the absence of Novak Djokovic, to which Roger Federer also joined.

Hard Track Specialist

The Russian barely counts in the prospect on future alternatives. At 23, he has been aiming since 2018, but without having gone beyond the triumph of last year at the ATP 500 in Tokyo. Then he also won in Sydney and Winston Salem. And this year he has done it in Sofia. Always on hard track.

Its beginning was promising. He had a break ball in the first game and won two points after long exchanges: 24 and 32 strokes. But Nadal left the trance and led the meeting where he was interested. He could be seen by the tape much more than he usually does, in his determination to shorten the points, not to enter into physical litigation with a ten years younger tennis player and little given to the concessions when he plays to the rhythm. Nadal has long introduced significant changes in his course on the track, with the aim of expanding his career. It is no longer strange to opt for a more direct tennis, also more effective in this type of surfaces.

His service was a whip, nothing less than with 81% of firsts in the initial set. It allowed him to clearly dominate the games with the serve, leaving in an anecdote the trouble of the beginning. The wind bothered both players, but did not prevent an attractive game until the Russian left the serve again in the initial game of the second set. His resistance was soon diluted before a Nadal whose superiority speaks better than any other speech on the scoreboard. There was a chasm between the owner of 18 Grand Slam titles and a tennis player who is beginning to gain merit to build bridges with the elite.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Rafael Nadal
  • Roger Federer
  • Novak Djokovic
  • US Open

TenisRafa Nadal defends the title against the new generation

WimbledonFederer, Nadal and Djokovic: the numbers of a historical rivalry

Tennis The closing of 2019 dreamed by Djokovic to break a historical record of Sampras