The advice that Alcaraz gave to Blanche before the match with Nadal in Madrid | ATP Tour

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Advice that Alcaraz gave to Blanche before the fight with Nadal in Madrid

The 16-year-old American will make his debut in Madrid this week.

April 23, 2024

Mike Lawrence / ATP Tour

Darwin Blanch will make his Mutua Madrid Open debut against Rafael Nadal on Thursday at the Caja Mágica.
Andy West

Darwin Blanch was born in Boca Raton, Florida, and now lives in Spain (after traveling to Thailand, Argentina and the US for a second time). Darwin Blanch has come a long way in his young life.

On Thursday, the American’s #NextGenATP journey will take him to a place he may not have thought he’d visit when he and his brothers started hitting tennis balls in the backyard. He will take on ATP Tour legend and local favorite Rafael Nadal in the first round at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“I’m very excited, obviously a little nervous,” Blanch, 16, told ATPTour.com on Tuesday in the Spanish capital. “But I’m very happy to play against Rafa. “I’m ready to go out and enjoy every moment.”

This will be the second ATP Masters 1000 appearance in five weeks for the southpaw, who made his home debut as a wild card against Tomas Machac at the Miami Open presented by Itau. While the American won’t have any local support this time around when he takes to the big stage, he’s ready to test himself against a sporting icon.

“I know there will be a lot of people and they will be against me,” Blanch said of his first Lexus ATP Head2Head match against Nadal. “Obviously Miami helped me a little bit (accustoming to the big stage), but I always liked playing with the crowd and I always enjoyed it.”

Blanche has already lived in four countries. The 190cm tall teenager speaks English, Spanish, Chinese and Thai.

“I was born in Boca, but when I was a week old, I moved to Thailand to work with my father,” Blanch explained. “So I trained there until I was eight years old, on the tennis court in the backyard. “I trained there with my brothers.”

“We brought a coach from Argentina and I finally moved to Argentina. I trained there for four years, then went to the USTA (in Orlando) and finally to the Ferrero Academy (in Alicante). “So it’s been a wild ride.”

Now trained by Francisco Penalva, Blanche has surprised even himself with the speed of his progress in recent years. He finished 2023 ranked ninth among the world’s top juniors and is currently participating in the ATP Next Gen Accelerator Program.

“We started to see my level when I went to the USTA in Orlando,” he recalls. “I started showing very, very good results, the best of my tennis career. Now at (Ferrero Academy) they have helped me a lot. “I’m getting better and it’s amazing to see how much I’ve improved lately.”

Carlos Alcaraz agrees with Blanche’s self-assessment. The PIF ATP number three was impressed by the teenager’s shot in Alicante and believes meeting 92-time tour champion Nadal in Madrid will only help his development.

“I trained with him several times at the academy,” said Alcaraz, who met Nadal for the first time on his 18th birthday in Madrid. “I know he has good tennis. He plays very well for his age. “I told him to just enjoy the moment (against Nadal).”

“This moment will be of great help in his career. It was very important for me when I first faced Nadal in 2021. I learned a lot from this game and the experience helped me a lot. It’s just about trying to enjoy the moment and give yourself the opportunity to gain experience.”

Blanche, who enjoys playing video games and listening to music (“everything but rock”) in his free time, has always idolized world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. However, he grew up with three tennis role models: his brothers Ulises Blanche and Dali Blanche, and his sister Crystal Blanche, all three of whom are tennis players.

“My two older brothers gave me a lot of experience,” Blanch said when asked what Ulysses and Dalí taught him about breaking into men’s tennis. “Obviously it helped a lot. He helped me a lot as a younger brother. So I try to take everything they tell me and incorporate it into myself.”