Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz pulled off an amazing win against none other than the ‘King of Clay’ on Saturday as he beat Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the 2024 Italian Open. Hurkacz beat Nadal 6-1, 6-3 to knock him out of the Rome Masters. The Pole then sang words of praise for the Spaniard, declaring he was bigger than the game.
As Hurkacz downed Nadal, he was asked about his feelings and the Pole said he was over the moon. Hurkacz said that he wanted to play against Nadal on clay and now that he managed to beat the 14-time French Open champion, he felt overjoyed.
The Polish ace highlighted how the Spaniard has been unbeatable on this surface in the last two decades. Hurkacz then went on to claim that Nadal is bigger than the game and he is proud of himself to have defeated someone like the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
I’m definitely really proud of myself. Playing Rafa is something special. It’s just different, especially being on clay, the surface that he has just dominated over the past 20 years. No one will ever have a record like him on this surface. He’s just bigger than the sport at the end of the day. So many people follow him and he inspired so many guys, so I’m just really happy to have had that experience today Hubert Hukacz said after his win over Rafael Nadal.
Hubert Hurkacz says the win was not as easy as the scorecard suggests
Hubert Hurkacz further broke down his victory over Rafael Nadal. While he was in awe of his opponent, the Polish star did not let the game slip from his hands. However, as Hurkacz said, it was not as easy a win as the scorecard suggests.
The Pole talked about the challenges he had to overcome during his match against Nadal. Hurkacz admitted that he had to be at the top of his game throughout the match and even one mistake could have cost him the entire match.
I just tried to compete. Obviously, the score looks the way it does, but I knew I had to be on top of my game throughout the whole match. If I had dropped just a little bit, he was going to be right back there. That was the really tough part, and I was trying to manage it as good as I could. Hubert Hurkacz said. (H/T: ATP Tour)
Notably, Hurkacz survived a marathon opening game on serve, during which he saved five break points, before exerting his authority with a combination of big serving and high-powered groundstrokes. Nevertheless, the Pole managed to stay afloat despite all the challenges and beat Nadal in straight sets to advance to the third round in Rome. He will next face Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round.
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