Chronicle: Nadal is indestructible: Tomb Tsitsipas and takes his twelfth Count of Godó

Rafael Nadal once again puts the stamp on his tournament, which is played at his club and whose center court bears his name, that of the king of clay. The Conde de Godó Trophy goes to the hands of the best player in the history of the surface for the twelfth time in history, a Nadal who faced a major challenge in the final of the ATP 500 in Barcelona and triumphed, knocking down (6 -4, 6-7, 7-5) to a Stefanos Tsitsipas against whom he needed a healthy revenge after what happened at the Australian Open. For three and a half hours, Nadal and Tsitsipas fought for each ball, in a duel worthy of the king and his possible successor at the top of the ATP clay courts, and the veteran ended up taking the jack to the water to the delirium of the public that packed the stands of RCT Barcelona.Nadal, who rowed against the current throughout the game, knew how to suffer, knowing himself inferior in the sections of greatest inspiration to his rival, and end up reducing Tsitsipas’s game to a minimum at the turning points of the third set, after two vibrant partials predecessors. The moral battle, the one that cost him the defeat in the Australian Open against Stefanos, was the main argument of a spectacular victory that returns him to the honeys of victory in a tournament, something he had not tasted since last September, at Roland Garros . The blows suffered only served to make Rafa stronger, and once there, the thirst for victory led Nadal to glory at the Godó for the twelfth time.Tsitsipas reached the final as the fashionable man on the circuit .His role at the Australian Open, where he lost two sets to Nadal in the semifinals against Medvedev, was overshadowed by the performance at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, where he lifted the title with a notable superiority over his rivals. The road in the Godó gave the same clues. Stefanos was a very tough bone for Nadal, that yes, he already knew what it was to win a final against the Greek. Full of confidence, Tsitsipas started the game meteoric, taking Nadal to the area of the linesmen and hitting everything he saw , whether running or standing. The Greek, also benefited from the failures of his rival, still carburizing on the track, was ahead with a break that showed his current level. A break that was not going to intimidate Nadal, knowing the inferiority he had to face, and that he was not going to collapse when Tsitsipas was about to add a second break. Rafa got up waiting for the best. Nadal begins commanding Aware of his possibilities, Nadal began to exchange heights, knowing that Tsitsipas could not overtake everyone, at least successfully. The recipe was clear, and it was none other than looking for Stefanos’ failures so that they would break his intact morale. Without reaching his best tennis level, Rafa achieved his first goal and celebrated the return of the tables to the match, hand in hand with a large audience, positioned safely, and who accompanied in the work of returning tennis to the -new “ Normal. ” Rafael had accelerated and the pressure was passing to Tsitsipas’s side. The Hellenic, outstanding at times but irregular in others, had to face for the first time in weeks the possibility of losing a match that, to top it all, was dominating on the scoreboard.The errors reached the number five racket in the ranking and the result was another break for Nadal’s hands. The eleven-time champion was not going to forgive and scored the first set with a comeback that even seemed easy, the same panorama in the second set, with a Tsitsipas who hesitated for two seconds and put the machinery to work to go ahead in the light again. Some doubts from Nadal, who especially suffered with a serve that is not yet as mechanical as he would like in competition, made it difficult for him to start the set ahead, and the worst thing is that Stefanos seemed recovered mentally and fresh in what physical. The task was getting complicated again. A ‘double’ resurrects TsitsipasHowever, Nadal had noted what happened in the first and knew how to make Tsitsipas lose confidence in his possibilities with his weapons. The wind blew over Barcelona and Rafa, hardened in a thousand battles, took advantage of it to his advantage and that of his topspin balls the other way around from Stefanos. The strategy used so many times – successfully – against Federer, also paid off with the new contender for the count of clay. At the moment, the tables returned and Nadal, again, would try to complete the comeback as in the first set. He was ready, brushing with his fingers the heavy trophy that accredits the winner of Godó, but Nadal’s two match balls with 5-4 favorable they were met with two successful serves from the Athenian giant, who was resurrected in the tournament. The reaction gave him a bonus for his turbo, resulting in three consecutive break balls with Rafa’s serve. The Spaniard had missed his serve at times, but when necessary, it allowed him to dominate and his talent did the rest.The tie break would mark the future of the match, with Nadal’s only reference to a sudden death in 2021 again causing a setback to the quarter-finals match of the Australian Open, in which Tsitsipas had come back two sets to take him out of the box. In Rafa’s mind that had not been forgotten either, but the inaccuracies betrayed the genius of Manacor. After a great start, Rafa gave up four points in a row in the midst of a scoring madness that allowed him to equalize the score again, at six. It was then that an inopportune double fault by Nadal left the set at the mercy of Tsitsipas, who was not going to fail.Rafa imposes his lawNadal faced a third set in which he had more to lose than win, with the physical in theoretical inferiority and the morale diminished in favor of his rival, who walked with the wind in his favor. A match, in short, in which Tsitsipas would have to be given many more options for all those of the law, except for the Rafa law, which dictates that on clay, no one is as a candidate as the eleven-time champion of Godó. Equality was maximum and although the score between the two did not exist, the possibility of breaking did not exist during the first eight games. The legs were beginning to respond reluctantly, so a flash of quality made twice the difference than two hours earlier. The dexterity of Tsitsipas and Nadal continued to delight the fans, knowing that a small detail would make the difference. Both contenders, after three hours of play, were going to play the title of Godó in a sprint race. Tsitsipas fulfilled his part in the ninth, and left the hot potato to Nadal, lacking in strength to serve but all pride in exchanges.The key point came in the kilometric eleventh game, full of alternations, break balls and serve advantages. Rafa, who scored each ball by making Tsitsipas work, was able to force his rival’s machine to the point of making her scream and then yes, with absolute merit and honors for the opponent, kiss the land, his land, and take the long-awaited twelfth Godó in one of the best matches in the history of the tournament.