Rafael Nadal is known for his strong baseline game. At Indian Wells, his compatriot impressed him during their practice session. Ready to start his Indian Wells run on a high note, Nadal recently indulged in some high-intensity practice with Carlos Alcaraz on a practice court of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Tennis TV recently posted a video of the practice session of both the Spaniards. In the video, Nadal served to start the point. Even though the point appeared to be like any other rally between two players at the beginning, Alcaraz’s winner caught everybody’s attention. Eyeing to return Nadal’s crosscourt backhand, Alcaraz moved towards his forehand side, hitting a sharp down-the-line winner.

Alcaraz’s winner sent the spectators in a frenzy. However,  Nadal’s compliment made the day for the young Spaniard. The 21-time Grand Slam champion addressed Alcaraz’s shot and appreciated the 18-old-old  by complimenting “Too Good”.

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Filming the moment, Tennis TV posted the video on their Instagram account, captioning it, “What’s better: the backdrop or this HUGE forehand by Carlos Alcaraz.

Rafael Nadal so far  in 2022

Rafael Nadal has been on a dream run since the start of the 2022 season. The Spaniard started his season at the Melbourne Summer Set. Receiving a first-round bye, he cruised through his opponents, winning the title without dropping a set.

Drawing confidence from his victory at the Melbourne Summer Set, Nadal entered Australian Open after missing the last two Majors owing to a foot injury. Cruising through the initial rounds, Nadal met Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals. Facing a stiff challenge against the Canadian, Nadal won the encounter in five sets. He overcame Matteo Berrettini in the semis to set up a title clash against Daniil Medvedev. The rest is history.

He next played at the Mexican Open, winning his 3rd title of the season in Acapulco.

Carlos Alcaraz so far in 2022

Carlos Alcaraz began his 2022 season at the Australian Open. Entering the tournament as the 31st seed, the young Spaniard won the opening couple of rounds with ease. He faced Matteo Berrettini in the third round.  The teenager lost the first two sets but won the next two to stretch the contest to a deciding set. Despite battling hard for over four hours, Alcaraz fell short in the end as the Italian sealed the contest in the deciding set tie-break.

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Drawing positives from his loss against Berrettini Down Under, Alcaraz won in Rio, his maiden ATP 500 level title.

Nadal and Alcaraz at the Indian Wells

Both the players are in good form entering the BNP Paribas Open. At the Indian Wells Masters, Nadal is eyeing a record-equalling 37th Masters 1000 title of his career. On the other hand, his young compatriot, Alcaraz will look forward to improving his stature on the tour by causing an upset or two.

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Nadal will lock horns against Sebastian Korda and the 19th seed, Alcaraz will take on Mackenzie McDonald in their respective tournament openers in Indian Wells.