Carlos Alcaraz overcame a very inspired Rafael Nadal to win the 2024 Netflix Slam in Las Vegas, while delivering a show for the fans.
Despite being only an exhibition match, the Netflix Slam was one of the most anticipated matches before the Indian Wells Open, which is the first ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year.
After Jannik Sinner's triumph at the Australian Open, fans patiently waited for another high-profile clash on the tennis court, and it came in Las Vegas during the Netflix Slam.
The stage was set, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick sat together in the commentary booth, and the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Pau Gasol, Michael Douglas, Charlize Theron, and Lindsey Vonn were watching from the attendance.
Surprisingly, after not playing since his Brisbane International comeback and withdrawing from the Qatar Open in Doha, Nadal came out firing.
The Spaniard is known for putting 100% into every practice and every match he plays, and even though this was only an exhibition, it wasn't an exception. In the end, Alcaraz and Nadal were very well compensated for playing the match.
The more experienced Spaniard got the first break of the match in the opening set, and even though he lost more points on his serve than his opponent in the first set, one-break advantage was enough for the 22-time major winner.
He never faced a break point in the first set and produced a very solid level to win the opening set 6-3 against Alcaraz, who was coming off an unfortunate ankle injury.
But the 20-year-old prodigy managed to increase his level in the second set, creating a total of seven break point chances. He used two of those, and he needed to, because once again, Nadal managed to get one break as well.
Thanks to two breaks of serve, Alcaraz was able to win the second set 6-4, and send the first-ever match streamed live on Netflix into the third set, which was a 10-point match tie-break.
As expected, the super tie-break was very close, as neither of the player wanted to lose in the first-ever edition of the Netflix Slam, which was a huge success.
Nadal managed to jump out into a 7-5 lead in the super tie-break, which would have been enough to win a regular tie-break, but since it was the match tie-break deciding this exhibition, the 20-year-old got a chance to fight back, and he did.
Alcaraz won four consecutive points to create two match points at 9-7, but the 37-year-old managed to save both of those to level the score of the super tie-break at 9-9.
But the two-time Grand Slam champion created three more chances to end the match, and even though he couldn't use the first three, he used his fourth one, which was his sixth match point overall, to win the super tie-break and the match, 3-6, 6-4, 14-12.
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