One of the great sources of regret about the injury woes of Rafal Nadal over the last few seasons is that so far, there has not been a truly great five-set match at a Major between the King of Clay and his heir apparent, compatriot Carlos Alcaraz. Whereas Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic have already contested one of the all-time great Grand Slam finals – the remarkable 2023 Wimbledon final, which Alcaraz eventually won – there has not yet been an equivalent epic involving the two Spaniards on clay.
However, the early signs from the Mutua Madrid Open are that tennis fans, especially fans of clay-court tennis, might yet get their wish and see such a masterpiece involving the two on le terre battue (the beaten earth).
The Madrid Open Has Been Their Battleground
It is fitting that so far, the only clay-court event that Nadal and Alcaraz have met at is in their country’s capital city. Indeed, apart from the Madrid Open, the only other event at which they have faced each other across the net is Indian Wells in 2022, when they fought out a truly amazing three-set semifinal on hardcourt that Nadal eventually and narrowly won.
On clay, they have played twice, and both times have been in Madrid. The first time was in the second round in 2021, when Nadal punctured some of the early hype surrounding the already lauded Alcaraz by defeating him easily in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. Apart from being a reminder for 16-year-old Darwin Blanch (who lost 6-1, 6-0 to Nadal in the first round at this year’s tournament) that Nadal can destroy anyone on clay, that 2021 scoreline is proof of just how far Alcaraz has developed in the last three years.
Indeed, it only took Alcaraz a year to exact revenge on Nadal when he beat him in the quarterfinal of the 2022 edition of Madrid. Having narrowly lost to Nadal in Indian Wells just a few weeks earlier, Alcaraz produced his all-court, indeed all-shot brilliance to defeat Nadal 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. And when he backed that result up the following day by defeating Djokovic in the semi-final to become the first man ever to beat “The Big Two on Clay” at the same tournament, he demonstrated to everyone that he really was a Major-winner in waiting.
Since then, Nadal and Alcaraz have not met at all, let alone on clay. Nadal’s injury problems, especially after the astonishing start to 2022 that saw him win both the Australian and French Opens and reach the semifinal at Wimbledon (which he could not compete in because of injury), have meant that the two Spaniards have not been able to play a “decider” on clay to split their 1-1 record on the surface.
Nadal in 2024
Of course, this could well be the last year that there is such an opportunity for a rematch, given Nadal’s public statements that he expects 2024 to be his last full season before retiring. Having missed almost the entire 2023 season through injury, he has missed most of the 2024 season so far and only made his comeback, not just on clay but on any surface, a fortnight ago in Barcelona.
It has been fascinating to see the remarkable strides that Nadal has made on clay in just a few weeks and just a couple of tournaments. In Barcelona, he beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli for the loss of just three games, 6-2, 6-3. However, he suffered the rudest of reality checks in his very next match against Alex de Minaur, who is far from being a clay-court specialist but has been inside the world’s top 10 earlier this year. The first set was close, but then de Minaur, one of the very fastest and most mobile players on tour (even on clay), literally ran away with it to win 7-5, 6-1.
Yet when Nadal faced the very same player at the Madrid Open this past weekend, he was a player transformed. For all the nervous tics that the whole world has become familiar with over the last 20 years, he was once more a raging bull on clay, edging the first-set tiebreak before evoking memories of his best performances on the red dirt with a dominant second-set, to triumph over de Minaur 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
It must be repeated that de Minaur is not a clay-court specialist, so Nadal’s next test will be to perform as well against someone who is more familiar with and more comfortable on the surface, beginning with Argentina’s Pedro Cachin. Nevertheless, whatever happens against Cachin or anyone else in Madrid, Nadal has already shown enough to suggest that he has a fighting chance of not only being at the French Open but competing at it to win. Put simply, such was the quantum leap between his performances against de Minaur in Barcelona and Madrid that if he kept up that rate of improvement until he reaches Paris, he might once again be the man to beat there.
Alcaraz in 2024
Unlike his illustrious (and much older) countryman, Carlos Alcaraz is not a clay-court specialist. Indeed, he is not a specialist on any surface and appears equally comfortable on clay, hardcourt, and grass, with hardcourt being his preferred surface. Nevertheless, he has already shown enough that he can supplant Nadal as Spain’s greatest clay-court player.
So many of Alcaraz’s most impressive, indeed near-miraculous, tournament wins have come on clay. In addition to his historic downing of both Nadal and Djokovic on successive days in Madrid in 2022, his first ATP main tour tournament win came in Rio earlier that year, and he has won several other clay-court tournaments. In fact, he has yet to lose another match on Spanish clay since Nadal schooled him on the surface in 2021.
That is why Alcaraz now stands on the brink of another historic achievement in Madrid, namely winning the tournament three times in a row. Not even Nadal, in his absolute pomp, could achieve that, but given Alcaraz’s routine straight-sets wins over both Alexander Shevchenko and Thiago Seyboth Wild in the early rounds of Madrid 2024, he looks set for a hat-trick of titles in the Spanish capital.
Could They Play Together?
Tennis fans, especially Spanish tennis fans, hope that Nadal and Alcaraz can meet for a third time in Madrid later this week, which will only be the precursor to a showdown over five sets at Roland Garros. Nevertheless, despite all the optimistic early signs in Madrid, especially regarding Nadal’s rapidly rising levels of form and fitness, it is by no means certain that they will play each other again in Madrid, Paris, or anywhere else.
However, there is the tantalizing possibility that if the two great Spaniards do not play each other again, they might just play with each other. That could come later this summer if they choose to form one of the most celebrated doubles pairings ever in tennis at the Paris Olympics, which, of course, will also be staged at Roland Garros. Consequently, if the King of Clay and his heir apparent never face each other again on Spanish clay or any other kind of clay, they might just form a dream team for the ages at the Olympics.
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey – USA TODAY Sports
