Rafael Nadal could not have imagined and asked for a better start perhaps to the 2024 season. The Spaniard beat one of his top rivals, Dominic Thiem in his very first match of his much-anticipated comeback at the Brisbane International 2024. In the post-match presentation though, Nadal had a unique take on the fact that he registered his 1069th win on the ATP Tour.
Most ATP singles match wins:
1274 – Connors
1251 – Federer
1088 – Djokovic
1069 – Nadal ✨
1068 – Lendl @RafaelNadal moves above Ivan Lendl after defeating Thiem! pic.twitter.com/lqhShBDv1y— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 2, 2024
With this achievement, he went past the great Ivan Lendl, who has 1068 wins to his name. When reminded about the same by the interviewer, Rafael Nadal rather refreshingly took it with a sense of humor and self-deprecation that he is loved for by millions around the world. Nadal candidly commented that he had no idea about this statistic as he had forgotten how to play tennis competitively and the efforts he had to put in to get back on his feet, during the last 12 months when he was out due to injuries and attempting to complete surgeries. Fans in the arena were left in splits even as Nadal might have been modest in his take as he confessed that he was filled with nerves and doubt rather, ahead of his return.
“That is not a statistic I was aware of”
Rafa had no idea he was on the verge of overtaking Ivan Lendl for singles match wins!@RafaelNadal #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/4rymwMgG8o
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 2, 2024
Rafael Nadal is now 20 wins behind Novak Djokovic, who overtook Nadal’s tally of 1068 earlier in August 2023. While Roger Federer continues to lead the pack with 1251 wins. With the way Nadal played on Tuesday against Thiem, one can expect Nadal to take the fight to Djokovic especially in this regard.
Rafael Nadal is most likely to play against the winner of the match between 8th seed Aslan Karatsev and Australia’s Jason Kubler. At the time of writing this report, both the players were 1-1 and were to go into the deciding set. This could give a huge advantage to Nadal, who won his match against Thiem, 7-5, 6-1 in just 90 minutes of play.
Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem: How the match panned out
Rafael Nadal hardly put a foot wrong in his match against Dominic Thiem at the Brisbane International 2024. Both the players were going hard at each other in the first set by mostly managing to hold on to their service games. Nadal was spot on with his forehands, serves and reflexes more so.
However, in the battle of nerves and play in big moments, Dominic Thiem was the first one to give in, in the first set. Thiem did manage to save 3 set points. However, Rafael Nadal showed the fight he has been known to produce since 20 years and that helped him bag the first set, 7-5.
The second set was virtually a cakewalk for Rafael Nadal as he broke Dominic Thiem’s service game thrice to finish out the match with a 7-5, 6-1 win. Thiem seemed to have given up and made more unforced errors, which Nadal capitalised on.
