At the Italian Open, Rafael Nadal will take on a fresh foe in the opening round.
Rafael Nadal will play Zizou Bergs in his first-round match at the Italian Open, facing the Spaniard for the first time overall. Named after Zinedine Zidane, a Real Madrid icon, Bergs will be looking to cause a major upset when he faces Nadal in Rome.
On Monday, the Italian Open draw was released. Nadal will face Bergs in what should be a pleasant opening encounter for the 37-year-old. In 2024, Bergs has primarily competed on the ATP Challenger tour, where he placed second in the Sarasota Open and won the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger.
In his seven games on the main circuit, Bergs has three victories, one of which came last month during his second visit to the US Men’s Clay Court Championships. After defeating Patrick Kypson in the first round, he was eliminated by eventual winner Ben Shelton in the following round.
After being paired against Rafael Nadal in the Italian Open, the Belgian could not believe his good fortune. He took to Instagram to share his shock ahead of what would likely be his biggest career encounter. “So this is happening on Thursday,” he said in the caption of a photo he posted of himself next to Rafael Nadal, adding a heart-eyes emoji.
Bergs will be coming off a first-round loss to Luca Van Assche in his opening encounter in Madrid going into the Italian Open. Even though the deck will be heavily stacked against him on Thursday, he will be hoping to shock everyone by beating Rafael Nadal to the second round.
Nadal and reigning champion Daniil Medvedev are slated to face each other in the round of eight if Nadal advances to the quarterfinals. The winner of that probable encounter might face Andrey Rublev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals, with Novak Djokovic most likely to make it to the championship match after finishing in the opposite half of the draw.
Given his desire to take good care of his body, Rafael Nadal has stated that he will be selective about the events he participates in 2024. Nadal hails from Manacor. Although it is generally believed that he would retire soon, he recently made the suggestion that he might continue to play after the clay-court swing, which concludes at Roland Garros later this month.
“I don’t know when is going to be my last match but I don’t want to become too emotional because I want to keep going for a while and just trying to keep focus on my path,” Rafael Nadal said in a statement following his defeat at the Madrid Open against Jiri Lehecka.
“Tonight is a night that will always hold a special place in my heart, but I also try to find the strength to carry on since it’s not quite enough. I will attempt to perform in Rome. Isn’t that another extremely noteworthy competition in my career? I believe, maybe, I won ten? Thus, yes, a lot of feelings there as well.”