He was only 18 years old and faced the first major year of his career, still without having won a Grand Slam, which would arrive the first that same year in Roland-Garros. Rafa Nadal reached the final in Masters 1,000 in Rome After having already triumphed in Montecarlo against the same rival he was going to have in front in the Central Field of the Italic Forum, the Argentine Guillermo Coria. At that time, the games for the title in the tournaments of this category were held to the best of five sets and took advantage of the last energy loom to sign a confrontation for memory.
“Today I played one of the toughest games of my life“, Nadal described after the triumph in Rome its end against a Coria who was close to being able Ten titles in the eternal City, where he said goodbye last year playing for the last time before his withdrawal in the Davis Cup in Malaga.
Sleeve shirt, pirate pants, all pundonor and the ability to sacrifice innate even though it was all against him at some point in the party. It is not difficult to remember any of the iconic points that Nadal left us in a match that we could only see in Grand Slam, the only tournaments that currently keep the format for the best of five sets.
They were the beginnings of his career, but at that time he arrived with the confidence in the clouds winning the fifth title in 2005, laying the foundations of what was yet to come in Paris and the end of the year, being his most successful season with the whopping of eleven trophies in total. Including the first ‘Major’ in the Philippe Chatrier.
In addition, in the 2005 season The best consecutive victories of a tennis player on whipped land began Never seen, the 81 that the Spanish signed until it was finally defeated in May 2007. At that time in Rome he already had 17 of those triumphs previously.
