50 Grand Slam Round of 16

Rafa Nadal played his annual match this Saturday at the Suzanne Lenglen, the second largest stadium at Roland Garros, cute and with good views and close to tennis. “I really like playing on this court with an incredible crowd. It is always special to compete here, wherever, ”said the Balearic, who never lost in that sanctuary Parisian. He came out undefeated again after beating with a triple 6-3 (marker that he had never obtained in the tournament) at 2:07 to the willful Cameron Norrie. The Briton has lost three times already this year against the 13-time winner of the tournament.

With moments of very good play and only a few small ups and downs in the second set, when he lost his serve twice and recovered the disadvantage on both occasions, Nadal qualified for his 50 Grand Slam knockout stages. He is the third player of all time to reach that figure after Roger Federer (67, which could be 68 tonight) and Novak Djokovic (54). In Paris he has reached this round, with this one, 16 times in 17 participations. A category rival awaits you whom he already faced on the land of Philippe Chatrier in 2020: Jannik Sinner, who overcame Swede Mikael Ymer (6-1, 7-5 and 6-3 in 2:22) without excessive difficulties. The 19-year-old Italian lost that first match against the Spaniard and also the second a few weeks ago in Rome.

In general, Nadal hit the movie ball, with those infinite revolutions, what is called spin, who drive his rivals crazy, wrapping his shots in devilish angles, and he performed almost perfectly on the rises to the net. He only failed his serve at those specific moments of the second set and produced a large number of winners (35), especially with the drive, in an offensive approach that led him to commit 29 unforced errors, but it prevented him from playing longer than necessary, not much beyond the two hours he likes to spend on the court.

Grateful effort

We have to thank Norrie for the effort and the desire he put into trying to be the champion and the attitude to never collapse, despite the punishment that Manacor subjected him to in many moments. In fact, he was fired with a standing ovation. “It is the best season of his career and he is 13th in the raceso I knew it was going to be a tough third round. At times I have played good tennis and at others I could have done better ”, said Rafa, with his usual elegance, about his opponent.

Results, table and calendar.