After Roland Garros’ tough semi-final loss against Novak Djokovic in more than four hours, 20-time major winner Rafael Nadal decided to rest and recharge his batteries before his next tournament.
The Spaniard didn’t have enough time to recover for the lawn season, skipping Wimbledon for the first time since 2016 and also skipping the Olympics and opting to spend more time at home in Mallorca.
A few days ago, Rafa announced that he would play for the first time at the Citi Open in Washington, joining a strong field and hoping to shape his form before the final major of the season in New York.
A week later, Nadal will take part in the Canada Open for the 14th time, aiming for a sixth title and third successive title, after beating Toronto and Montreal in 2018 and 2019. Nadal will make his 37th attempt
The Masters 1000 crown and second Rome of the season, where he joined Novak Djokovic’s record. Right now, all of the top 35 players are automatically entered, and we should see who will appear at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Toronto next month.
The Canada Open was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic, and the last game at that event was in August 2019 when Nadal defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final. The defending champion defeated the Russian 6:3, 6:0 in 70 minutes for his tenth Masters 1000 title on hard court.
Nadal will compete in Washington and Toronto for weeks in a row
Medvedev has been the player to beat for the past two weeks. He played at a very high level, reaching two finals in Washington and Montreal, losing to Nick Kyrgios and Nadal.
On Saturday, Rafa took a day off and stepped onto the pitch to put on his best performance against a dangerous opponent and set everything right, to win the first title since Roland Garros, in the most one-sided final of the event. Daniels left far behind. 1984!
With 72%, Nadal conceded only 11 points behind the first shot, missed a single break chance in the first game and never had a problem again. Daniel was under pressure and could not handle it, losing half a point in his game and breaking four of the eight chances given to Nadal.
The Spaniard had 12 winners and 13 non-enforced errors, while the Russian made 10 winners and 22 errors. Rafa had a clear advantage in the middle class and in the longest rallies and defeated Medvedev in the shortest rallies to make the victory fair and fair.
Nadal saved the breakpoint in the first game and broke 2-1 after a double mistake by Medvedev. Rafa played three comfortable service games to win the first set 6-3 after a good forehand winner in the ninth game.
The Russian lost energy in the second set, suffered three breaks and was able to deal with the world No. 2 Bagel (6–0) in the sixth game, earning his fifth Canada Open crown.
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