Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal defeated Alexander Zverev 6-1 1-6 6-3 to win his 56th clay-court title. In the process, he completed the “Monte Carlo and Rome Doubles” in the same year for the sixth year in his career.
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This victory will give him a massive boost ahead of the 2018 French Open in a week’s time. He will once again be the favourite to win but you can never discount his opponents. Rafa will be gunning for a record 11th French Open title but we can guarantee that it won’t be easy.
Coming back to the Rome title, Nadal vanquished Zverev in 2 hours and 9 minutes. The also had two breaks for rain but Zverev insisted that the rain had nothing to do with the loss.
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David Ferrer
He said, “No, it’s not. But it happens. Nothing you can do about it. He came out way faster, played way more aggressive than I did. It took me a long time to get activated again. I ran out of time. The break took my momentum away.”
Several tennis personalities reacted to Rafael Nadal’s eighth Rome title.
‘The best one!!’, said David Ferrer, a good friend of Nadal and a fierce rival.
Juan Monaco, a former top 10 player and another of Nadal’s close friends, wrote: ‘What a match! Rafa did it again. But Zverev is so good, he is definitely the future No.1′.
When Nadal was dominating in the first set, the Argentine wrote: ‘Besides the game of these two phenomenons, Rafa has the ability to let a player like Zverev, who is coming from a number of matches wins, not have patience.’
Tennis legend Boris Becker wrote:‘Congrats to Rafael Nadal for being Rafa today! I must say few words about Sascha though, amazing effort/heart/discipline from the young German all week long! The rain came at the right/wrong time today..
