By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday November 4, 2020
Rafael Nadal notched his 1000th ATP win in Paris by defeating his compatriot Feliciano Lopez.
Photo Source: etty
Make it another Paris milestone for Rafael Nadal.
Just three weeks after the King of Clay claimed his record 13th Roland Garros title and tied Roger Federer on the all-time men’s singles Grand Slam title list with 20, Nadal was back in Paris to become the fourth ATP player in history to reach the 1000-win mark.
The 34-year-old Spaniard did it with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over compatriot Feliciano Lopez, in an empty arena, but the eerie surroundings didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for another crowning achievement.
"That means that I played well for such a very long time, because to achieve that number is because I have been playing well for a lot of years and is something that makes me feel happy, no?" Nadal said. "I just can say thank you very much to all the people that helped me and all the people that in any moment of my life helped me to be where I am."
Nadal enjoyed a brief ceremony after the match, and posed for pictures to mark the occasion. He has created some incredible moments in Paris, but until today, most of them have occurred on the terre battue of Roland Garros.
Nadal has never won the title in Bercy, but did reach the final in his first appearance in 2007, He improved to 20-5 lifetime at the Rolex Paris Masters. He has only played the event three times since 2013, and on two of those occasions his tournament ended with injuries.
Nadal handed Filip Krajinovic a walkover in 2017 in Bercy in the quarterfinals, and did the same last year in the semifinals, when he pulled out to send Denis Shapovalov through to the final.
But even when he has played in Paris, Nadal has struggled to produce results. He has never earned a Top 5 win and owns a 2-4 lifetime record against the Top 10 in Bercy.
On Wednesday he started slowly, double-faulting to hand Lopez a break in the first game, and hot-serving Lopez took over from there. After winning 34 of 34 first-serve points in his opening-round victory over Filip Krajinovic, the 39-year-old kept serving hot against Nadal, winning 14 of 15 first-serve points in the opener, and saving the only break point he faced to take the set on the strength of that early break, 6-4.
Nadal appeared to be solving the riddle of Lopez in the second set but the Spaniard held firm and saved two break points to hold for 2-all in a tense game.
Lopez saved another three break points to hold for 3-3.
Eventually his luck (and perhaps his gas) ran out in the tiebreaker where Nadal remained flawless on serve and took the critical mini-break on the seventh point to lead 4-2. Lopez saved two set points on serve to get to 5-6 but Nadal cooly converted his third set point to level up on the next point.
Quickly Nadal moved ahead with a break to love in the first game of the third set and it was a lead he would never relinquish. Lopez had a look at a break point in the next game but he was tied up by a Nadal second-serve and missed his return badly long. It would be the only break chance he would see.
Nadal moves on to face Jordan Thompson of Australia in the third round at Paris. The legendary Spaniard says he'll approach it just like every other match.
"I am confident that I gonna keep improving for tomorrow, and I hope to be ready to play a good match," he said.