Rafael Nadal’s first exploits took place 20 years ago: his first French opponents speak of “his desire to destroy the ball”

After a three-month absence, the Spanish legend returns to clay on Tuesday in Barcelona.

This will be the event of the week in tennis. After a three-month absence, Rafael Nadal returns to competition at the clay-court tournament in Barcelona on Tuesday, April 16. The Spaniard begins preparations for Roland Garros in Catalonia. It was on clay that Rafael Nadal built his legend, and it all started 20 years ago.

It was on August 15, 2004 in Sopot. That day, in this Polish resort, Rafael Nadal won the first of his 92 titles on clay. The Spaniard was then 71st in the world and had just celebrated his 18th birthday. In Sopot, on the way to the coronation, Rafael Nadal crossed paths with Arnaud Di Pasquale. It was in the 2nd round. And the Frenchman will not forget this first clash: “I was warned a bit, they told me ‘Watch out, you’ll see, you’re playing a young guy who’s a wreck’.

“I remember a devastating forehand”

“After, continues the Frenchman, here’s what happened on the field. I remember a devastating forehand, a kind of bulldozer. I’ve rarely, if ever, had someone in front of me make me shudder with every punch. The weight, the weight, the bounce of the ball… Every time he hit the ball with his forehand, it felt like I was taking an uppercut and going backwards. That’s really the picture of a game where you feel like you’re hanging on a little bit, but you’re going to explode in flight. He wanted to knock down the ball and his opponent along the way. And there I was.”

“Very early on, at that age, we knew it was going to be a crack.”

Arnaud Di Pasquale

on Franceinfo

A month later, in Palermo, on the clay surface, Nadal surprised Nadal, who was dominated in the second round in two sets by Olivier Mutis from Messina, then 113th in the world ranking. By the way, Olivier Mutis made history because to this day, 20 years later, he is the only Frenchman to outclass Rafael Nadal on clay: “It’s something that I remember a little bit. Ten, fifteen years after my career, it was an anecdote that came up often. I’m happy when my daughter finds a TikTok with a montage of Rafa and me afterwards. It really remains a source of pride.”

“What surprised me was actually his anger”

Pride and an indelible memory for Olivier Mutis, who at the time was aware that he was witnessing the birth of a phenomenon: “Despite my very good match, I met him at the right moment when he was still a little crumbly on the backhand side. But what surprised me was actually his aggressiveness. It was that he broke away on every point. He was a little drunk on the warm-up where he hit hard, maybe almost 100%, although we’re not used to it, there was a tank top, long hair, screams of energy that didn’t give up and really fought until the end.”

“We felt there was something very special. We couldn’t imagine everything that was going to happen next, but he had something different.”

Olivier Mutis

on Franceinfo

So different and so strong that Rafael Nadal became the greatest player of all time on clay, the surface on which he lifted 63 trophies including 14 at Roland Garros, the first in 2005. He played a total of 519 matches on clay. He lost just 45 of them, including just three at Porte d’Auteuil.