Rafael Nadal and Alex de Minaur have played each other 6 times in their careers so far. On head-to-head, Nadal has enjoyed a 4-2 lead over the Australian. The 22-time Grand Slam champion won their last clash in April 2024 in the Madrid Open Round of 64, 7-5, 6-3.
Rafael Nadal and Alex de Minaur first met in the 2018 Wimbledon Round of 32 match. Nadal comfortably won that match, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. He won with the same scoreline in their 2019 Australian Open clash and Nadal went up 2-0 up on head-to-head. In 2020, Nadal beat de Minaur in the ATP Cup semi-final, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. Finally, in 2023, De Minaur won 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in their United Cup Round Robin league match.
But Alex de Minaur has had a good run, especially in 2024. He won the Mexican Open 2024, beating Monte-Carlo Masters runner-up Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Alex de Minaur also reached the Rotterdam Open final, where he lost to Jannik Sinner 5-7, 4-6. However, de Minaur has struggled to adapt to clay as one of his biggest wins till date is against Cam Norrie in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Barcelona Open. A 2-11 win-loss record is not a good reading for the Australian and his fans.
The Barcelona Open 2024 was arguably Alex de Minaur’s best chance of defeating Rafael Nadal on clay and he did the dutiful. In 2019, Nadal sang huge praises of De Minaur in a post-match press conference, when he was just 20 and did not make it as big on the ATP Tour as he has now. Interestingly, De Minaur is half-Spanish, and hence, Nadal had a special liking for his talent. Alex de Minaur admitted that a match against Rafael Nadal would be his biggest match ever, after calling him ‘King of Spain’. This was right before their 2019 AO match, which Nadal won.
