• Quarter chronicle Nadal settles accounts with Zverev, wins his easiest match in the tournament and returns to the semifinals

Nobody could imagine that on his way to what may be his twelfth final at the Masters 1000 in Rome,

Rafael Nadal

would find

Reilly Opelka

, a 23-year-old North American,

as the last obstacle this Saturday,

who had said little or nothing about clay until this first presence in the Foro Italico.

«It will be a super difficult opponent.

It has a supersaque.

I must be very good with mine and be aggressive from behind to make him play one more ball.

They are semifinals, I can't expect anything easy.

It will be very difficult to break him because he gives very few options to the rest and he can play quietly, "said the Spaniard after beating

Alexander Zverev

in the quarterfinals 6-3 and 6-4

, the man who defeated him last week in the same round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Number 47 in the world, Opelka came from overcoming the coronavirus, with six consecutive defeats before surprising in the Italian capital successively defeating

Gasquet

,

Musetti

,

Karatsev

and

Delbonis

, whom he beat yesterday 7-5 and 7-6 (2).

Nadal is brutal.

Next to

Zverev,

Thiem

or

Tsitsipas

are the

fittest

tennis players on this surface. It will be a good test to know where my level is. I have never played Rafa before. It will be a good test to measure yourself with the best player of all time, "he said after leaving the Argentine behind.

Opelka won the junior tournament at Wimbledon in 2015 and has two senior titles: New York, in 2019, and Delray Beach, a year later, both on fast track.

They are successes derived from his characteristics, those of a player who obtains logical returns of his 2.11 height.

Without changing his style too much, supported by the 77 direct aces he has collected since the start of the tournament, 18 of them against Delbonis, he has made his way to his first semi-final of a Masters 1000, one more season than he reached last year. in Cincinnati, where Tsitsipas stopped him.

Artistic concerns

He goes on his own, without the obsessive character of most tennis players, encapsulated in the pursuit of his professional goals, oblivious to any cultural concerns. In Rome, he has found time to visit

the Borghese Gallery

with

Venus Williams

and took advantage of his fleeting visit to Madrid, where he lost in the first round, to go to the Prado Museum, which he qualifies as the best he has seen. Two years ago, in Basel, a quarterfinal match against

Roberto Bautista

awaited him

, but Blackbear, a musician friend from Florida, was performing an hour and a half from the Swiss city. He went to the concert and when it was over he couldn't find a taxi back. He slept in a hotel and returned the next day with enough energy to beat the Spaniard in three sets.

Without neglecting his dedication to a sport that he adores, he knows the ephemeral nature of youth and tries to take advantage of the opportunities that being a professional of this sport offers him. He cultivates gastronomy and does not always sleep as much as he would need, anxious to know the cities he visits.

The third American tennis player in the ranking, after

Taylor Fritz

, 31st, and

John Isner

, 34th, does not neglect social commitment.

In the last edition of the Miami tournament, he donated one hundred dollars for each of his aces to the Wings for life foundation, dedicated to research on spinal cord injuries.

He lost in the first round to

Alexei Popyrin

and did not have the most fertile day with the serve, since he only connected 12. The gesture, however, without being new among his colleagues, is incorporated into a profile away from the last.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Rafael Nadal

  • Wimbledon

TennisNadal saves a delicate debut against Sinner and will seek the quarterfinals against Shapovalov

TenisZverev asserts its greatest competitive edge and wins the second title at the Caja Mágica against Berrettini

TenisRublev: "The mind makes the difference"

See links of interest

  • 2021 business calendar

  • Home THE WORLD TODAY

  • Eibar - Real Betis

  • Granada - Real Madrid, live

  • Alexander Zverev - Rafa Nadal

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