37-year-old Nadal wreaked havoc with 16-year-old great talent

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Darwin Blanch from the USA is outside the top 1000 in the ATP ranking and had only one match on the ATP tour before Thursday’s memorable match.

Blanch finished 2023 as the 9th-ranked junior in the world (he reached the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Juniors in singles last year) before receiving a wildcard to the Miami Open, where he faced Thomas Machac in the opening round.

Nadal won the match in just over an hour 6-1, 6-0.

Nadal has struggled tremendously with injuries recently. He made a comeback in Barcelona last week after over three months on the sidelines. Then there was an exit against Jordan Thompson in the 3rd round. Now another Australian, Alex de Minaur, is waiting in the next match for Nadal.

Nadal has won the Madrid Open five times previously.

The 37-year-old stated on Wednesday that “my body does not allow me to compete in the way I would like”. He is probably in his last year and will do his utmost to win the Grand Slam tournament Roland-Garros for the 15th time.

– I have no idea what will happen in the next three weeks. I will continue to fight and do the things I think I have to do to play in Paris (Roland-Garros). If it’s possible, it’s possible. I will not play in Paris if I feel like I do today, Nadal said.