Nadal’s dazzling debut in Rome, 20 years later | ATP Tour

Tournament news

Nadal’s dazzling debut in Rome, 20 years later

The Spanish won 20 years ago the first of its ten titles

May 15, 2025

The brightest legacy in the history of Internalzionali BNL d’Italia began spectacularly in the 2005 edition.

With 18 years, Rafael Nadal debuted in Rome in early May in the midst of many expectations. He had already won four ATP Tour titles that year and entered the painting as the number 7 of the PIF ATP Ranking, his best position, after chaining 11 consecutive victories that earned him titles in the ATP Masters 1000 in Montecarlo and in Barcelona.

Consecrated already as one of the players to beat on whipped land, Nadal reached the quarterfinals in the Italic forum after beating Mikhail Yuzhny, Victor Hanescu and the number 13 of the world Guillermo Cañas, losing only eight games in total. However, what began as a procession for the Roman painting for the young feeling soon became a trip with ups and downs towards the first of its 10 titles in the Italian capital.

In the quarterfinals against Radek Stepanek, Nadal ceded his first set in nine games, but that setback only seemed to boost him towards a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory. He faced the same situation in the semifinals against David Ferrer, but again the fifth head of series traced and finally beat his compatriot 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Perhaps those fierce victories served Nadal for the final to the best of five sets, a reissue of his duel for the title in Montecarlo against Guillermo Coria. In the Principality, three weeks before, Nadal had won a battle on the fourth set. This time, an absorbed Roman audience enjoyed a five -hour clash and five sets. Coria managed to stop a Nadal on twice, taking the second and fourth sets in the Stadio Centraloe. In the decisive set, the Argentine seemed to be the winner before a visibly tired opponent, and he advanced 3-0 with a double break to approach his third Masters 1000 title.

However, there was a situation that would become too familiar for tennis fans – and for Nadal’s rivals in the ATP Tour – during the following two decades. With the game in his fifth hour, the 18 -year -old, somehow, found a way to change the script.

Nadal chained four consecutive games on the way to getting his first championship point to the rest with 6-5, 30/40, but Coria remained firm to force a tie-break. Again, Nadal seemed to have control of the game, and put 6/4 in the tiebreaker. A rest of the failed right and a double foul allowed Coria to tie before finally, after five hours and 14 minutes, Nadal was awarded the two additional points he needed to complete his victory in which he is still the longest final in the history of the 1000 Masters (created in 1990).

“Today I played one of the most difficult games of my life,” Nadal said at the press conference after the game after his triumph 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6). “I am very happy because it is a very important tournament for me.”

As many players who have competed in the internal Bnl d’Italia can attest throughout their 95 years of history, there are few stops in the ATP Tour with a hobby as passionate as that of Rome. When he later asked him how he had gathered the energy to trace after 0-3 in the fifth set, Nadal hastened to cite the role of the public of the CentralE Campo.

Rafael Nadal” style=”width: 100%;” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/2024-images/news/2025/05/06/15/38/nadal-rome-2005-match-point.jpg”>

Nadal Celebra Su Title in El Internazionali Bnl d’Isalia 2005.

“I don’t know. I think the public is very important for me because when I put on 0-3 on the fifth set, I ran out of energy,” said the Spaniard, who four weeks later raised his first Grand Slam title in Roland Garros. That year, he won 11 trophies, his best personal brand in a season. “But the public supported me at all times. Thanks to that, I could win the game.”

Coria had defeated a 16-year-old Nadal in his first confrontation in the circuit in 2003, but he could never solve the Spanish left-handed dilemma, ending his career with a 1-4 disadvantage in the Lexus ATP Head2head between them. The lament of the Argentine for what had gone badly in the final sections of his classic meeting in Rome was probably subsequently repeated by many players who thought they had defeated Nadal during their prestigious career. “I thought that sooner or later I would give up, that I would lose pressure, but it was not so,” said Coria. “I fought, I gave it all, I had my opportunities and tried to take advantage of them. I always responded with incredible shots on the line.”