Rafa Nadal is finally back, and he has not played at a tournament since late February. There he is, in Rome, at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, blasting Pablo Carreno Busta 6-1, 6-1. Careno Busta, who reached the semis at the US Open, barely losing against Alexander Zverev. The steady Carreno Busta was close to a fifth-set victory, but he couldn’t kiss the lines. Zverev found a way to prevail.
Dominic Thiem ended up winning the 2020 US Open, inching over Zverev, in a fifth-set tiebreaker. Thiem was weeping in joy, while Zverev was so disappointed. The German was so sad that after the ceremony, he broke down. Neither will not play Rome this week, as they are totally exhausted.
But there are a number of terrific players, such as Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Matteo Berrettini, who won in the round of 32. Stefanos Tsitsipas went down in the third set to Italian Jannik Sinner.
Nadal has won Rome nine times, a tremendous amount. His lefty forehand is very heavy, with a tremendous spin. And he hustles every second, and when he is set up, then he can blast the winner.
Last year, in the final, Nadal took down Djokovic in three sets on the Italian clay. Obviously, the Serbian has beaten Nadal on the hardcourts, but on the soft clay, Nadal is still king.
But this week with Nadal and Djokovic, if they play lights out, then they will meet each other in the final on Sunday. The whole world will watch the match.
There were three good wins on Tuesday, from the 18-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti upsetting Stan Wawrinka. Two other young players won: Andrey Rublev and Denis Shapovalov.
The former two-time Grand Slam champion Angie Kerber is still struggling. The German can be so steady, when she was No. 1, grabbing the 2016 Aussie Open, the 2016 US Open and 2018 Wimbledon. But, since then, she hasn’t won the big ones, and really, she hasn’t dominated at other events. She was injured when she arrived in January, and she went down early in, at the AO. She lost against the long veteran, Sam Stosur, in the first round, and then shortly after, she pulled out in California and Florida. Kerber subsequently withdrew due to a left-leg injury. Now she is back, and she feels pretty healthy, but she has a lot of work again. At the US Open, she made it into the fourth round, but she couldn’t hit with enough topspin or depth. She did win three matches, and then the very good American Jennifer Brady punched her out.
The 32-year-old Kerber still has a solid three years of play when she is healthy, but her move back up the rankings from No. 22 will take some time. In Rome, early this week, she lost to Katerina Siniakova.
Kerber may not win Roland Garros as she never really understand exactly how to work on clay.
The very young teenager Coco Gauff had a solid win, beating Ons Jabeur in the first round.
Two-time Grand Salm champion Garbine Muguruza beat another former major champ, Sloane Stephens, in two sets. She is up and down, but when she feels 100 percent healthy, she can win any match. Muguruza is fast, and she really likes to attack. She could win the event in Rome, as long as she is durable.
Stephens is mentally out of it, in the past one year and six months. She has to turn it around during the fall, or she will continue to drop down farther than her present No. 33.
Amanda Anisimova is ready to make a move. But, it won’t happen in Rome as she was bested by Dayana Yastremska in the round of 32. Every month, you can tell that the 19-year-old is studying and improving. And when he does, she will break into the top 10 in the next months. A learner.