A little-known Argentine tennis player has received the gift of a lifetime after pushing Rafael Nadal to three sets at the Madrid Open.
Nadal, playing at his home tournament for the last time, sealed a 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 victory over Pedro Cachin in just over three hours and was somewhat surprised with a daring request at their net exchange.
Cachin, a 29-year-old ranked 91st in the world, thanked Nadal for the match and asked for a memento to take home.
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“You’ve made my dream come true, thank you,” Cachin said in Spanish.
“I don’t know if this is protocol or not, but I wanted to ask you, could I keep your shirt or a towel or something?”
Nadal smiled and agreed, collecting a spare shirt and delivering it to Cachin with one more quick hug.
“It’s beautiful,” Cachin boasted later on Instagram, covering the Nike logo with a heart to avoid any sponsor issues.
“Thank you Rafa, it was a dream.”
Nadal had cruised through the first set but faced a battle in the second, falling in the tiebreak before bouncing back.
“I found a way to be through. In the third I was able to be more unpredictable and I think that changed the match,” he said.
“I’m enjoying the fact that I’m playing at home because it means everything to me and I’m trying my best to keep dreaming — and tomorrow is another day.”
Play was briefly halted in the first set while a spectator required medical treatment, with Cachin rushing to the players’ fridge to send bottles of water into the stand.
When they resumed Nadal promptly secured a third break of serve to wrap up the set.
But Cachin began swinging at the start of the second and broke the Nadal serve twice to lead 4-1 and silence the sell-out Spanish crowd.
The 22-time grand slam champion upped the intensity and retrieved one break before saving two set points in a marathon 10th game to level the set at 5-5 only to lose the tie-break.
However, Nadal secured a break at the start of the third and ultimately claimed victory to set up a fourth-round meeting with 22-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Nadal said he did not think the match hurt his ailing body but he was still thankful for being scheduled to play at night in his next match.
– with AAP