Rafa Nadal and Paula Badosa, a stage to dream at Wimbledon

• Carlos Alcaraz Says goodbye in the round of 16 to Sinner's relentless tennis

• Controversy The war between Kyrgios and Tsitsipas: "He is a thug"

If in every major tournament it is possible to find a turning point in the future of

, that one, or at least the first of them, came on Saturday night.

True, his rival was

, 54th, without a pedigree in the

, but the previous two,

, 42nd, and

, 106th, did not entail greater difficulty, and, however, revealed deficiencies in the second seeded , who missed the three years without falling on the grass of the All England Club.

Nadal played with the determination and success with which he usually does when he knows that he has to take a step forward, that he begins to lag behind in relation to the staging of other candidates.

Without ignoring the circumstances, the renewed treatment for his chronic left scaphoid injury, the 36-year-old, the uncertainty about his presence in the tournament after winning his fourteenth Roland Garros undergoing previous infiltrations in each match, it is not surprising to see him among the 16 best of the London tournament.

It is already the tenth presence of him in eighths.

Gone are her hasty farewells at Wimbledon, when she could be easy prey for different forms of

.

Two-time champion (2008 and 2010) and three-time finalist, 2006 and 2007 (

) and 2011 (

), he is, by right, a candidate for everything.

If he won in Australia at the beginning of the course, 13 years after getting his first victory there, why wouldn't he do it 12 years after he won

his second title at La Catedral against

At the moment there is a substantial difference, yes.

At Wimbledon there is Djokovic, self-excluded in Melbourne due to his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid.

The Serbian achieved his 25th consecutive victory at Wimbledon against the Dutchman Tim Van Rijthoven and is already in the quarterfinals.

's last loss

in this tournament dates precisely from the 2017 quarterfinals, when he retired behind on the scoreboard against

due to a shoulder injury and entered a loop that was not far from leading to retirement.

However, even against Djokovic, already a six-time champion of the tournament, Nadal handles enough arguments to arouse confidence, even more so when the alleged appointment would only occur in the final.

rivals

Before, and without detracting from those who cross his path, it is far from sinuous.

His opponent this Monday is

, the 25th seed, who beat

in four sets adding 20 aces.

He will be more dangerous on this court, but Nadal is coming off an easy win in the second round at Roland Garros.

If he went ahead, he would meet

, who beat him in the Indian Wells final, the left-hander conditioned by a cracked rib, or

, a 29-year-old Australian from qualifying.

The worst case scenario in the semifinals would be embodied by

, brilliant in his match against

but still with two duels ahead of him, a long way for a tennis player as great as he is unpredictable.

If Nadal's game and horizon invite optimism, so does the performance of

, who, thanks to her victory in two sets against the two-time champion of the tournament, will step this Monday for the first time in the round of 16 at the All England Club.

Her rival is

, winner of the title in 2019 and former number one in the world, who has embarked on a new stage alongside

, former coach of Serena Williams and adviser to Tsitsipas, after considering her withdrawal.

Badosa, who retired against

in the round of 16 at Roland Garros due to an injury to his right calf, arrived very fair at the London tournament, with only one match in Eastbourne as a preamble.

She champion in Sydney at the beginning of the course, she has touched the top 2 of the WTA thanks to her regularity and now appears as the fourth favorite of the tournament.

Three victories without giving up a set speak eloquently of the good moment of a woman whose horizon, in the case of leaving Halep behind, hints at the reborn

, who liquidated

, a recent Roland Garros finalist.

Seven of the 16 Wimbledon eighth-finalists were unseeded, further highlighting the unpredictability of women's tennis.

Not even

, number one in the world and who came to London with 37 consecutive victories, managed to survive.

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• tennis

• Rafael Nadal

• Paula Badosa