By James Buddell
October 13, 2024
Eurosport.com

The Madrid Masters starts on Monday, and young star Rafael Nadal is looking to live up to the hype on home territory. With Nadal's very presence in the tournament the result of popular clamour in a newspaper vote, James Buddell charts the progress of a young man destined for great things.

He has the confidence of Boris Becker and his forehand has been likened to Rod Laver's, at the Madrid Masters this week the youngest player in the Top 100 has been awarded a wildcard as a result of a unanimous online pole vote.

Pretty incredible considering Rafael Nadal has only played at two Grand Slam championships and six main tour events in his career.

But incredible is just what the 17-year-old Spaniard is. In his 24 main tour matches this season Nadal has already beaten his idols, become the youngest third rounder at Wimbledon in history and is looking to finish the year in the Top 50.

So when Spanish sports daily Marca, added the Majorcan's name against former world number four, Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador; the American Taylor Dent who won back-to-back title in Bangkok and Moscow recently; and Fernando Verdasco thousands of fans quickly made the pole a non-contest after the first day with Nadal taking over 70% of the vote.

Perhaps the right-handed left-hander should have been accepted directly into the draw on the back of 2003 wins over Karol Kucera, Albert Costa, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Carlos Moya, Younes El Aynaoui and Albert Portas.

But throughout his short career so far he has made his own luck and Madrid will welcome the nation's hottest prospect, who, continues to predominantly ply his trade out of the limelight on the second-tier Challenger circuit.

Occasionally Nadal will headline the news - think, the Masters Series of Monte Carlo and Hamburg - but for now his management team headed by former professional Carlos Costa know his exposure to the press will be as brief as the flash of his forehands.

To obtain an interview is very tricky. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) realise Nadal will have to be nurtured into the limelight.

His growing confidence to speak English is mirrored by his burgeoning portfolio of compliments received from not only his fellow countrymen, but also the legends of the game.

To put his achievements this season into perspective you only have to look at Andy Roddick at the same age. The U.S. Open champion had yet to win a match professionally.

So for those that have been courtside to see Nadal play they will agree that his speed around the court is extraordinary and his soft hands enable shots of exquisite quality on either side.

The defiant gaze is almost disdainful and while his growth is far from complete extra gym work with his uncle and coach Toni will add extra dynamism to an already fearsome game.

Nadal is also different from the batch of Spaniards currently playing who idolised the young Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in her pastel shades at Roland Garros in 1989.

He puts becoming the first Spanish male since Manuel Santana in 1967 to win at Wimbledon ahead of clay-court glory in Paris.

Predecessors and contemporaries Alberto Berasategui, Sergi Brugera, Alex Corretja, Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Moya have all played in Grand Slam singles finals and two have attained the world number one ranking, but never considered that.

As Lleyton Hewitt says: "He is carved from a very special kind of wood."

And while comparisons have been made to Frenchman Richard Gasquet the feelings are amongst tennis commentators that for 2004 Nadal will be a greater threat to the well-established stars and in time will eclipse the achievements of the much-heralded Spanish Armada who have become a tour de force in the Davis Cup cauldron.

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