Fucsovics lost to the slag king in a big battle

Olympics, men’s tennis, 1st round (for reaching the last 32):
Rafael Nadal (Spanish)-Márton Fucsovics 6:1, 4:6, 6:4

The 32-year-old player from Nyíregyháza has clashed several times with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, one of the “big three”, but they met the 38-year-old clay king for the first time at the five-ring games. Nadal can boast of a serious Olympic history, as he won a gold medal in singles in 2008 and in doubles in 2016. At the same time, Fucsovics participated in his first Olympics, as he traveled to Tokyo last time, but withdrew before the start due to an injury.

It didn’t start well

From Fucsovics’ point of view, the match did not start well, he had several unforced errors, Nadal brought his own, then took his opponent’s serve and got a break advantage. The Spanish star flashed his fantastic skills for the first time in the third game, “knocking” his Hungarian opponent off the field with powerful palms (3:0).

In the fourth game, Nadal made several mistakes, so Fucsovics brought his serve for the first time, but during his rival’s serves, he chose the wrong solution several times, and the Spaniard took a 4:1 advantage with another indefensible forehand. The Hungarian player was unable to close the next game, and Nadal increased his advantage with another excellent hit, and closed the first set after 31 minutes of play with a service game that brought nothing.

He started the second game with the Hungarian’s confident service game, and after that, in the longest game of the match, he got a break point for the first time, which he immediately took advantage of. Fucsovics easily overturned the third game from 0:30 with some especially nice shots (3:0), and the audience tried to fire up Nadal with shouts.

The crowd favorite brought his serve to nothing, but this did not bother Fucsovics, he was visibly trying to move Nadal, who looked a little tired, with shortcuts and punches here and there (4:1). The Spaniard turned the next boom from two break points, after which Fucsovics increased his advantage – even though the audience was already going crazy after a Nadal forehand, the chair umpire went down and indicated that the ball was wide, thus cooling the mood (5:2).

The final game has arrived!

Fucsovics served for the equalizer when Nadal won the most beautiful ball game of the match – in the half-minute long game, the audience could see practically all kinds of hits and saves, and every member of it jumped up from their seats and gave a standing ovation. From his own point of view, the Spaniard broke back at the best time (4:5), but this again took a lot out of him, and on the third set point of Fucsovics, he undertook an extremely risky drop, which he failed, so the decisive game took place.

In this, Fucsovics saved his first two service games both from break points, then Nadal had three chances on his second serve, but the Spaniard again took a bit of the “old” and converted with five points in a row (2:2). Nadal attacked many times in the match, and Fucsovics helped him with a broken backhand, thanks to which his rival broke (3:2).

The player from Nyíregyháza also had a break point in the next game, but Nadal came one step closer to victory (4:2), and Fucsovics had to serve to stay in the match after 2 hours and 21 minutes of play (5:3). Nadal quickly “surrendered” his opponent’s serve so that he could finish the match, but he had two match points in vain, he spoiled both of them – the second one with a double fault – but he sold the third one with a parade forehand and won in 2 hours and 30 minutes.

In the evening, Fucsovics and Marozsán will face the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhoff, and if they advance, the Spanish superduo Nadal and four-time GS winner Carlos Alcaraz may follow.

later: doubles, 1st round (for reaching the round of 16):
Márton Fucsovics, Fábián Marozsán-Tallon GriekspoorWesley Koolhof (Holland) 19.30