After learning of the Mutua Madrid Open draw, which paired him with Rafael Nadal in the first round, Darwin Blanch, a young American player, posted an Instagram post with a pretty hilarious emoji and the amusing phrase: “Guys I play Nadal wtf!”
Nadal and Blanch will also face off with the greatest age difference in Masters 1000 ever. On the afternoon of Thursday, April 25 (local time), Nadal and Blanch will compete in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid.
And the match will be historic in its own right. In fact, this will be the match with the highest age difference between the two players on the court since the ATP Masters 1000 began in 1990. Rafael Nadal is 21 years, 117 days older than Darwin Blanch.
Rafael Nadal vs Darwin Blanch: a battle that makes history
Until Thursday, the record was held by Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras, who met in Key Biscayne-Miami in 1992 after an 18-year, 344-day separation.
The draw for the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid included one of the key causes for interest: learning Rafael Nadal’s first round opponent.
If it was Flavio Cobolli’s turn in Barcelona a few days ago to play and be defeated by the 22-time Spanish Slam winner, this time in the first round, the Spanish champion will face the 16-year-old American player Darwin Blanch in the draw with a wild card.
Blanch will play only his second ATP match after losing in the first round to Czech Machac at the last Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. Darwin Blanch, born in 2007, is ranked 1,028 in the world but is regarded as a very potential player, and as such, the organizers granted him a wild card.
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