Nadal keeps Van de Zandschulp at bay and will play in the quarterfinals against Fritz

Although, unlike Roland Garros, at Wimbledon he was always loved, from his first appearances, when he ended the disdainful tradition of most Spanish tennis players towards the tournament, increasing the affection for his beautiful confrontations with

, for the continuous desire to do better every year on the grass, the appreciation, long ago turned into veneration, is now greater if possible.

The public assumes that there will not be many more occasions in which

can drop by here, and, just as, for a few years now, it has happened in Paris, he gives him a majestic treatment, even more so, as also It happens in the French capital, absent Federer, the only player who disputed his affections.

By the very nature of his game, Nadal does not summon the almost sacred atmosphere of the Swiss, eight-time champion of the tournament.

The people, less and less contained, whoever the actors are in the Central, surround him with their shouts and exclamations and even celebrate the mistakes of the opponent, call him this Monday, in the round of 16 of 2022,

, to who won 6-4, 6-2 and 7-6 (6), in two hours and 21 minutes.

The Dutchman, a strong server who has risen to a top-25 rank, held on until a down-the-line backhand

died down the sideline.

Nadal pushed at the moment he should have and broke in the tenth game to take the set.

He would soon do it again, acquiring an advantage that facilitated the distractions in his

, with a good part of its occupants entertained in mobile breaks at the ready.

owner and lord

Van de Zandslup followed the same path as

,

and

, which he will follow as well, unless it is applied with extraordinary success and a deficit appears in the double champion of the tournament,

, his rival this Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

The difference, from the encounter with Sonego, the first that he resolved in three sets, is that Nadal has begun to play very well, to feel master and master on the court, to move with authority, whatever the characteristics of the opponent, for Van de Zandslup belonged to a species of predator that had not yet been encountered in the London jungle.

Champion for the fourteenth time at Roland Garros, and already with 22 majors on the sidelines, Nadal once again remains the only Spanish survivor in the tournament, once

fired on Monday

.

If at the beginning he stood out for his precocious records, his greatness is such that now he is already distinguished by the longevity of his successes.

With his eighth appearance in the quarterfinals of the tournament, at 36 years and 37 days, he is the third oldest player to get a head into the top eight, behind only Federer and

.

Given how Van de Zandslup was gobbled up, it's time to speculate on the immediate future.

The next one, already signed up, is Fritz, eleventh seeded and one of the three players, along with Alcaraz (Madrid) and

(Rome), who have surpassed him this season.

The American achieved it in the Indian Wells final, with the peculiarity that Nadal already suffered from a crack in his ribs that he suffered in the semifinals of that same tournament against Alcaraz.

or

as his rival

.

On the other wing, you know,

travels , who faces this Tuesday in the quarterfinals

, executor of Alcaraz.

The only two joys that Van de Zandslup could give himself, collecting Nadal's first serve in the third set and walking later until the tiebreaker, found two replicas of the Mallorcan.

He was already able to verify it in a similar way Sonego last Saturday, when he broke in the third set and equalized at four.

The lefty is not for jokes.

And even less so that they raise their voices.

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