“When you play Nadal, you have to lose all the respect you have for him” – De Minaur
In the fifth episode of the UTS show “All on the Table”, Casper Ruud, Alex de Minaur and Dominic Thiem discussed what it’s like to face the Spaniard
Alex de Minaur and Rafael Nadal, United Cup 2023 – © Action Plus / Panoramic
When Alex de Minaur answered Casper Ruud‘s questions regarding his track record against Rafael Nadal, last February during UTS Oslo, the Aussie had no idea that he would be playing the King of Clay on his best surface a few weeks later.
This match-up will happen on Tuesday in the last 16 of the ATP 500 event in Barcelona. This will be just Nadal’s second match on clay since he won the French Open for a record 14th time in 2022. Nadal, playing his first event since Brisbane in January – and only his second in 15 months – due to injury, beat Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-2, 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday.
In a memorable moment from the fifth episode of “All on the Table”, De Minaur explained that you have to “lose all the respect” you have for Nadal and treat the match and the opponent as you would any other.
De Minaur and Nadal have met four times. The Australian won their most recent match-up at the ATP Cup after three defeats, all of them on quick surfaces. Barcelona will be their first encounter on clay.
De Minaur also spoke at length about facing Nadal in the third round at Wimbledon in 2018 – and what surprised him about playing the King of Clay on grass.
“So much physicality, even on the grass, so I can only imagine on a clay court,” said The Demon. “You have to lose all the respect you have for him and just play him as another player.”
“The comparaison now is Sinner” (De Minaur)
“His backhand cross is quite heavy, like a normal right-handed forehand in my eyes!” added Ruud, called The “Ice Man” at UTS. “The first time I hit with him, I was like: ‘What the hell?’ His backhand looks on TV a bit sloppy or slow, but it’s heavy, it’s crazy.”
And De Minaur says Nadal’s characteristics have a modern-day equivalent.
“The comparison now is (Jannik) Sinner,” he said. “His two-handed backhand is almost like a forehand because he’s getting so much force and rotation on it as well, and that’s the same with Rafa on the other side.”
“They drop it really low,” agreed Ruud.
De Minaur also shared his memories of facing Roger Federer in the final of Basel – losing 6-2, 6-2. “He gave me an absolute lesson!” he grinned. “It was his 10th Basel, they had everything ready [to celebrate the milestone].
“We played, it was a cool experience, I got diced up, had no idea what to do, I was just getting short slices everywhere, I was hitting unbelievable shots…I couldn’t do anything.”
De Minaur started his clay season with a best Masters 1000 effort on the surface in Monte-Carlo, where he defeated Stan Wawrinka, Tallon Griekspoor and Alexei Popyrin before losing a tight match to Novak Djokovic.
