Rafael Nadal Wins 91st career title at Mexico Open

Rafael Nadal recorded his 91st career victory on Saturday after defeating Cameron Norrie in back-to-back sets in the Mexican Open final in Acapulco, Mexico.

The 6-4, 6-4 victory also extended Rafael Nadal’s best career start to 15-0, a statistic Nadal himself was unaware of. At 35, Rafael Nadal is now only three victories shy of matching Ivan Lendl’s record of 94 career victories. In addition to winning the Mexico Open, Nadal won the 2022 Australian Open and the Melbourne ATP 250.

“At the end of the day I’ve always said that this kind of records needs to be measured once your career is over. Today the most important thing is that I have won a prestigious tournament.”

Nadal’s accomplishment at the Mexico Open was no small feat, considering the event is an ATP 500 tournament that saw other top players like 4th seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, 3rd seeded Alexander Zverev, and 2nd seeded Daniil Medvedev all competing.

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The tournament wasn’t without drama after Alexander Zverev was kicked out of the tournament for smashing his racket on the umpire’s chair seconds after losing a doubles match. The event was also good news for Medvedev, after he made it to the semifinals, he will his world rank climb to no.1 on Monday.

“Acapulco)is a tournament that started with five of the top six players in the world, it was complicated, and I ended up taking the victory. Looking back, a few weeks ago this would have looked impossible, it’s amazing how things can change in such a short span, from not being able to practice and now to be where I am today.”

Nadal, who is from Spain, is a fan favourite at the Mexico Open and a favourite one to play. The win on Saturday was his fourth title in Acapulco, the others were in 2005, 2013 and 2020. Nadal’s first win in Mexico came at 18, a title that made him the youngest Mexico Open winner, and now, he can include the oldest winner in history to win the Mexico Open to his list of achievements.

“It’s been a long career, the first time I came here everything was new for me and after all these years you start to appreciate more each victory than when you were an 18-year-old boy.”

Nadal, who is next due to play at Indian Wells in California, has said that his body feels fine and that he is looking forward to playing again in the next two weeks. The U.K’s Cameron Norrie, who was on a winning streak that saw him win his last eight games, was hoping to enter the history books as the first British man to win in the Mexico Open’s 29-year history.

“I played against him before, so I had an idea on how to play him, but I gave him a couple of easy points and he gave me nothing. It was little bit of lack of concentration, and I gave him the match.”

At the beginning of the match, Nadal took a 3-2 lead and ended up winning the first set. The second set was even better for the Spaniard after Nadal scored breaks in the fifth and seventh matches to win the second set.

The ATP Tour will now move on to BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, before heading to Miami for the Miami Open. The Miami Open is a preferred ATP event with Canadian Sportsbooks like Betway Sports, and with multiple promotional offers, it is a great opportunity for punters wanting to bet on upcoming ATP Tour events.