Rafael Nadal continued his Madrid Open run with a solid win over Alex de Minaur and assessed his level after the match.
The Spaniard looked pretty good in his first match at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, beating tennis prodigy Darwin Blanch in two simple sets. The draw had him face de Minaur, who just bested him a week ago in Barcelona, and quite easily so.
His coach predicted that things would be different this time around, and he wasn't lying; it was certainly quite different. Nadal produced a pretty solid level to beat de Minaur in two sets, although the match lasted over two hours.
It wasn't an easy match, it wasn't a clean match, but it was certainly the best he's looked in his most recent comeback attempt. After the match, the Spaniard spoke with Tennis TV, who asked him whether the old Nadal was back.
"No, no, no, not yet. It needs time and I think for moments have been good level of tennis. I was able to do positive things but still on and off. Super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex, play over 2 hours means a lot to me. The atmosphere must be a joke, just can't thank enough everybody here."
That's a pretty fair assessment from Nadal, who did play really well at times. However, it wasn't a clean match, and he had some iffy moments as well. The most important thing for him was playing for over two hours and feeling good after the match.
As important as his level is right now, the more important thing is remaining healthy so he can build upon that. If he stays healthy and keeps playing, he'll likely find himself at a good level by the time Roland Garros rolls around. That's certainly the hope.
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