Sixteen-year-old nails champion of France
Stephen Bierley in Monte Carlo
Thursday April 17, 2024
The Guardian
Spain's Rafael Nadal, a left-handed prodigy to rival France's multi-talented fellow 16-year-old Richard Gasquet, pulled off an extraordinary 7-5, 6-3 victory over Albert Costa, the reigning French Open champion, in the second round of the Monte Carlo Open last night.
Costa, who won an all- Spanish final against Juan Carlos Ferrero at Roland Garros last year, knew he was in for a tremendous battle from the first game. It took him nine minutes to break Nadal's serve, but any thoughts he might break the young man's spirit were quickly disabused.
Nadal is an exceptional talent, remarkably quick on his feet and with powerful ground strokes on either wing. More importantly, he has a wonderful temperament. Costa tried everything to impose his greater experience, but Nadal - the nephew of Barcelona's central defender Miguel Angel Nadal - ran down everything and produced winners of startling quality for one so young.
He was a qualifier for this tournament and the win will launch him into the world top 100. "He's the best 16-year-old I have ever seen," said Carlos Moya who, like Nadal, comes from Majorca. "I think he has more potential than Gasquet and in two years maximum, he's going to be a top-10 player."
The match was the last on court and finished with only a couple of hundred watching. But by the end, Costa was not simply beaten but well beaten. He clasped Nadal's hand at the close and patted his stomach, but there was a glazed look of shock in his eyes.
Nadal plays Argentina's Guillermo Coria today for a quarter-final place.
"Before the start of the year I had no idea things would happen so fast," said Nadal. From now on the 16-year-old will be a marked boy-man by all the players.
Sweden's Magnus Norman, then 24, was on the verge of a significant breakthrough in 2000. He became one of the favourites for the French title when he won the Italian Open in Rome, defeating Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten. A few weeks later, they met again in the final at Roland Garros with Norman firmly believing destiny was with him. "I really thought I was going to beat Guga," said Norman, "but he blew me away."
Since then hip and knee injuries have seen Norman drop from world No2 to No105 at the end of last year. Nobody expected much in Monte Carlo when he lined up against Kuerten in another second-round match yesterday and, when the Brazilian led 6-1, 5-2, the condolences were being prepared.
But Kuerten totally lost his concentration and Norman, who received a wild card into the tournament, won 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. "When I won the second set, I wanted revenge for losing the French final," said the Swede.
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