The day Rafael Nadal dropped his first ATP point: 9/11/2001 | ATP Tour

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The day Nadal let his first ATP point slip away: 9/11/2001

The Spaniard had 13 match points but was unable to secure his first professional victory

September 11, 2024

September 11, 2001 is one of those dates that have been forever etched in the collective memory. The impact of two planes against the Twin Towers in New York and another against the Pentagon in Washington left one of the most terrifying images of the 21st century.

As fate would have it, that same day – a Tuesday – Rafael Nadal had scheduled his first professional match at the Club Deportivo Brezo Osuna in Madrid to play a Futures category tournament that was being held in the capital of Spain on hard courts. On the other side of the net, his compatriot Guillermo Platel was waiting for him.

At that time, Rafael – who was barely 15 years old – was known, in addition to being one of the most promising future talents, for being the nephew of Miguel Ángel Nadal, a footballer for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team. For all these reasons, the young guest was no stranger to Platel.

And it didn’t take long for him to show the virtues that made him so much talked about in Spain as one of the players to be taken into account sooner rather than later. Nadal won the first set 6-2. And almost without giving his rival, seven years his senior (22), time to accept the situation, he also took the lead in the second set 5-2.

The Manacor native was very close to adding his first points for the PIF ATP Rankings. But beyond the authority of the result, what most surprised everyone present that day at the Madrid club was the maturity so unusual in a boy of his age. Much more, how he took advantage of the opportunities that he wasted in the form of match point.

Nadal had as many as 13 match points in his favour in the second set, but failed to convert any of them. Every time he missed an opportunity, he would get motivated and keep going. He lost, didn’t complain and kept going. However, Platel took advantage of his greater experience to escape the threats and end up winning the set… and the match (2-6, 7-5, 6-2).

Soon after, frustration was put aside. The magnitude of the tragedy that was witnessed on television, in a place where Nadal had been on holiday with his family just a few months earlier, overshadowed everything that had happened on the court that day.

However, just a week later, he would add his first five points to the PIF ATP Rankings in the first round of the ATP Challenger in Seville. But that’s another story.