He is the best Spanish athlete in history and one of the most successful in the world, as well as respected for his values beyond the profession. However, imagining that Rafael Nadal was going to complete a start to 2022 like the one we are experiencing was elusive even for the most staunch of the man from Manacor. 15 consecutive victories, without failure, fill the Manacor genius card, three titles included, and Acapulco as the icing on the cake of a dream year that reaches 35, to continue breaking records.
The triumph in the renowned Mexican tournament comes for Nadal still hungover from the achievement of the Australian Open, where he arrived with doubts and left on his shoulders, through the front door of Melbourne Park and with the honorary title of king of tennis history. By then, Rafa already had three victories and another championship in his bag, the Summer Set 250 in Melbourne , played in the same complex as the Grand Slam and in which the champion showed off his category to win the cup despite that his main objective was to get in touch with the competition.
The five months of absence weighed moderately on Rafa then, but they were not an impediment to defeat Berankis, Ruusuvuori and Cressy , the latter in the final, and win a not inconsiderable first title of 2022. It could have been the last, at least until the date, but the Australian Open would come to write an outstanding page in the history of tennis.
In order, Giron, Hanfmann, Khachanov, Mannarino, Shapovalov, Berrettini, and Medvedev . A sequence that the tennis fan and Rafa fan repeats almost by heart because it meant the second Australian Open for the Balearic Islands, his cursed Grand Slam in which he was crowned the best of all time. History in a movie with an Oscar ending in the form of a two-set comeback against Medvedev. Triumph of the hero and second title of the season.
Acapulco, the icing
This is how Nadal was planted in Acapulco, where after a few weeks of rest, celebration and reset, he had to get back to work. Rafa highlights the atmosphere and the preparation of a fixed tournament in his limited calendar, but he had come to Mexico to win and not to enjoy, or rather to enjoy winning, and that he did from the first day, against Kudla , going over – from Kozlov and Paul to complete the triplet of North American victims that gave him access to the semifinals and the reissue of the duel with Medvedev , who premiered number one with a defeat against his black beast.
There were already 14 wins, 15 if Griekspoor’s WO in Melbourne were counted, but the pretty girl would be added by Norrie , the last tennis player to kneel before Rafael Nadal in a perfect 2022 that represents a new resurrection of a major tennis player who threatens to continue surpassing itself.
