The Next Gen can wait: Rafael Nadal tames Alex de Minaur in Melbourne

MELBOURNE—The older man had been No. 1 in the world, won multiple Grand Slam singles titles and given his all every time. After it was over on this night on Rod Laver Arena, he’d heartily praised his vanquished opponent’s effort. Said the veteran, “he's very similar to the way I was when I was 15, 16, 17 years old. You know, he's not shy of going out there and putting his best foot forward every time he steps on the court. He's got a great attitude, there's no doubt about that. There's been a lot of matches over his time, whether he's on a big court or an outside court, where he shows his emotion, as well, and I think that's good for tennis.”

These words came in 2005, from Lleyton Hewitt, following his fourth-round victory over a tenacious teenager then ranked 56th in the world. The ambitious youngster: Rafael Nadal.

Fourteen years later, Nadal was the wise elder, up against Hewitt’s compatriot, prodigy and stylistic descendant, impassioned 19-year-old Alex de Minaur. As was the case back then, experience carried the day, Nadal taking two hours and 22 minutes to comprehensively dismantle the tenacious de Minaur, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

As Clint Eastwood said in the movie Dirty Harry as he blazed his gun at a criminal, “Do you feel lucky, punk?” Though Nadal would never be rude enough to call any opponent a punk, certainly he wields his racquet with the authority of a law enforcement agent patrolling a rough and tumble neighborhood.

Said Nadal, “I tried to make him feel that my ball was good enough that he was not having the control of the point almost never. I know he's dangerous. He's super quick. He likes to go inside the court fast. I tried to not give him many chances on that.”

From the minute the draw appeared, this match was highly anticipated, must-see tennis on a summer Friday night.

But long before Nadal and de Minaur walked on the court, there was also the awareness that while the generational angle held appeal, the tennis itself had a deep possibility of being one-way traffic for Nadal.

One major reason for this was de Minaur’s extensive January workload. He’d played three matches in Brisbane and five on his way to his first ATP singles title in Sydney. De Minaur’s semi and final in Sydney had both been played on Saturday, an impressive triumph of will and skill capped off by a 3 a.m. flight in a private plane to Melbourne. Though de Minaur won his Monday opener in straight sets, it took nearly four hours for him to subdue an inspired qualifier, Henri Laaksonen, on Wednesday night, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-3.

So as de Minaur rapidly went from boy to man and entered a brave new world of trophies raised and his first-ever seeding at a Slam (No. 27), Nadal occupied familiar territory. The Spaniard’s prior two matches, also versus Australians, were each won in straight sets, the first versus wild card James Duckworth, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, the second over Matthew Ebden, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

The tone of Nadal-de Minaur was established in the first two games. Nadal held at 15. In the next game, de Minaur fought off three break points before finally holding serve on the 16th point.

Even were de Minaur in superb shape, at this stage of his career, he would find Nadal a tough matchup, the Spaniard's off-the-charts topspin posing all sorts of difficulties for the Aussie's flat, linear strokes. As de Minaur noted, “you've got to go out there and pretty much redline. You've got to be able to go out there and perform your game plan and execute.”

Matters weren’t helped given de Minaur’s weariness. From the start, it was clear the Aussie had little strength in his legs, fatigue that affected everything from his serve to ability to command the court. As the entire world knows, if you fail to take it to Nadal, he will take it to you. And it will hurt. While Roger Federer calmly curates his opponents, Nadal hurls them down the stairs.

But true to the Aussie spirit of never making an excuse for a subpar performance‚less you discredit your opponent, the game and even an entire nation—de Minaur addressed his fitness on his own terms.

“Obviously I would love to be as physically fit as Rafa,” he said. “That's the next step. But still, the body was feeling good. It was just about matchups today, Rafa being Rafa.”

Down the staircase de Minaur went. Making a staggering 82 percent of his first serves, Nadal dictated repeatedly with wide serves in the ad court, his lacerating forehand and his relentless court coverage. In 88 minutes, he earned the first two sets, 6-1, 6-2.

What happened next is what already makes de Minaur a great tennis player, and will lay the groundwork for even more. Only the most irrational of thinkers would dare think he could overcome a two-set deficit versus Nadal. But competition is not always about being rational. It is about passion, about willing oneself into the arena again and again—and from that effort, good things can happen, perhaps in the present and certainly in matches to come. The great competitors are the ones who repeatedly build first-rate work habits. Australians like Hewitt and de Minaur prove the point that while winning is a desired outcome that we can’t always control, competing is a process we can engage in ceaselessly. No one in tennis has ever demonstrated this more than Nadal.

“I go on court every day trying my best," he said. "I know I have to play aggressive. I know I have to play with the right determination.”

And so it was that de Minaur honored all that tennis stands for in Australia and continued the fight. Serving at 2-4, 30-all, de Minaur flung himself all over the court, closing out a 17-ball rally with a crisp crosscourt backhand winner. For all he’d faced at this point, he was at least trying to grab Nadal’s ankle.

With Nadal serving at 5-4, 40-0, de Minaur brought it back to deuce. Only on Nadal’s sixth match point did he succumb, an echo from the US Open when it had taken Marin Cilic seven match points to at last drive the stake through de Minaur’s heart.

“I wish I could play like that the whole match,” said de Minaur. “I don't know. I just have it in my head to fight till the end, fight every point. I just wanted to give myself a chance. I thought I did everything I could. I just wasn't able to win the deuce points. I had to fight and fight and try to give myself that opportunity, but it just didn't come.”

De Minaur’s run at the Happy Slam had ended, but it hardly fazed him. In a nation where the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic have poisoned this country’s sublime tennis culture, de Minaur sees the picture quite clearly.

“I'm really proud of the effort I put in,” he said. “I played some great tennis. Obviously I'm a little bit disappointed that I wasn't able to perform a little bit better.”

He had lost a match, but in other ways that will bear much in the years to come, de Minaur knew that he had won something too.

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