What is the story behind the Nadal vs. Alcaraz fight? How many times did they play and who won the most in a straight fight?
Netflix was able to take advantage of the exhibition match which was unplayable in 2023, only to be brought back in 2024 in almost the same conditions, but with something completely new: live broadcast around the world via a payment platform. The confrontation between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafa Nadal will take place next Sunday, March 3, but its history goes back a long way.
On March 5, 2023, a meeting was planned between two great Spanish tennis players.. Alcaraz and Nadal were scheduled to meet in Las Vegas to play an exhibition match in which they would enjoy and delight spectators and sports fans. But something went wrong, there’s no better way to say it. Nadal is injured
Rafa Nadal injury interfered with the Grand Slam celebrations. The Spaniard suffered a 2nd degree injury to the iliopsoas muscle of his left leg, which resulted in surgical intervention. These are exactly the areas where he felt discomfort upon returning to the court in 2024. The Murcian was no more lucky. He was injured at the ATP Finals in Rio de Janeiro and, due to the recovery time, was unable to prepare for this event.
So, On March 3, they brought the event back to calendars, but this time with the help of Netflix. This will be the fourth time Alcaraz and Nadal will meet each other. They met for the first time at a competition on Spanish soil in 2021. The capital celebrated the national team clash at home as the event took place at the ATP 1000 tournament in Madrid. In the year of the young star’s explosion, Nadal beat Alcaraz by two sets.
The second meeting took place at the 2022 Indian Wells tournament.. The Spaniards reached the semi-finals, where they again had to meet each other. Nadal won again, but this time with less ease than in the first match between them: 4-6, 6-4, 3-6. It was the first semi-final between Spaniards in the 46-year history of the Masters 1000.
The third and final meeting between the two in the competition also took place in 2022.. And this time there was a change. The duel of seniority and youth was leaning towards the tennis of the new generation. Carlos Alcaraz won the 1,000th Masters match in Madrid, a match that the Spaniards repeated again in the capital. The first was for Alcaraz with a score of 6-2, the second for Nadal with a score of 1-6 and the last for Alcaraz with a score of 6-3.
The next duel between the titans of Spanish and world tennis will once again put two players of the caliber of Nadal and Alcaraz on the ropes., which will bring joy not only to the audience, but also to the participants themselves. Let’s see if Nadal can return to the courts after injury in good shape and defeat his compatriot for the third time; or if, for his part, Alcaraz does this and shows once again that the youth are becoming strong.