On March 3rd tennis sensation Rafael Nadal played rising tennis star Carlos Alcaraz for the first ever Netflix Slam. This 2hr and 40 min long match had more than just tennis lovers watching. The two Spaniards had the world tuning in to watch the match live and thousands more who plan to watch the match later on Netflix.
Rafael Nadal is a 22-time Grand Slam champion known to tennis fans as “The King of Clay” because of his 14 titles at Roland Garros, the clay court tournament. Nadal is 37 years old and turned pro in 2001 at the age of 14. The past two years he has been out for various injuries and this match was the first he’s played since January.
Carlos Alcaraz has won 2 Grand Slams in his career so far and was the youngest ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World No. 1 for 20 weeks. At just 20 years old, Alcaraz has dazzled the world and made a lot of people refall in love with tennis. Alcaraz turned pro in 2018 at the age of 15.
This highly anticipated match was a battle between the ‘old generation’ and ‘new generation’ of tennis. The match was played in Las Vegas, Nevada at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena with about 10,000 fans in the stands. Big names in tennis such as Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, Mary Joe Fernández and Patrick McEnroe were commentating and spectating this historic match.
The first set Nadal came out on fire and won 6-3. The second set Alcaraz was winning 3-0 and ended it off with a score of 6-4. The two then played a super tiebreaker, the first to 10 with a two point margin. The score stayed close the whole tie break with 9-9 going to 10-9 Alcaraz, then 10-10. Alcaraz had one point on Nadal the whole time until finally at 13-12 with the end in sight, Nadal ripped a forehand that bounced off the net and landed out. Carlos Alcaraz won the tiebreaker 14-12, sealing the victory.
With this, Carlos Alcaraz became the first Netflix Slam Champion, beating his friend and fellow Spaniard along the way. After the match, Alcaraz and Nadal sat on the same bench sharing laughs, waiting for their on-court interviews. The two spoke highly of each other during the interviews after the match and then in Spanish thanked all of their supporters back home and in the Latino community.
About Alcaraz, Nadal said, “the good thing is, as a player I will not face [him] many times. But as a fan I will keep enjoying him for such a long time.”
