Nadal looks old, then recaptures form in Rome

For a brief stretch Thursday, Rafael Nadal looked every bit a weary 37-year-old player nearing retirement.

Struggling to produce pace off both sides with his groundstrokes, committing an uncharacteristically high number of unforced errors and unable to stay in rallies, Nadal dropped the first set of his first-round match at the Italian Open against qualifier Zizou Bergs.

Then the fist-pumping, virtually-unbeatable-on-clay, 22-time Grand Slam champion version of Nadal emerged, and he rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory before an adoring crowd in what likely will be his final tournament at Rome’s Foro Italico.

Nadal was playing only his 10th match this year after missing nearly all of 2023 with a hip injury that required surgery. He’s hoping to be competitive one last time at the French Open, where he is the record 14-time champion.

“That was not my best match. I was practicing better than how I played, without a doubt. But I found a way to win,” Nadal said. “My game is more unpredictable than before. I didn’t play much tennis for the last two years. So I’m up and down, on and off, but I think I can do it much better than what I did today.”

Rome, where he is a record 10-time champion, is Nadal’s last big warmup tournament before the French Open starts May 26.

Nadal was coming off a straight-set loss to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. But he never has lost consecutive matches on clay in his career, and now that impressive statistic remains intact during what he has indicated is his final season on tour.

ALESSANDRA TARANTINO/ASSOCIATED PRESS Rafael Nadal looked every one of his 37 years in the first set Thursday against qualifier Zizou Bergs at the Italian Open. Nadal then rallied for a three-set claycourt win in Rome, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.