Rafael Nadal bows out in 2nd round of the Italian Open after straight loss against Hubert Hurkacz

Though there is a lot of hype for Rafael Nadal as he made his comeback in the current clay season, the performance by the 22-time grand slam champion has been underwhelming. Nadal is yet to win a single title on his return and was last eliminated by Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. Though it looks like a tough season for the Spaniard the fans will still want to see him win in what is his final season right now.

Rafael Nadal was getting the much-anticipated support in the Italian Open as well where he has won 9 titles already and this was his quest to make it his tenth. There were chances that he get to play his long-time rival Novak Djokovic in the tournament as well. Nadal as usual made a great start to the tournament winning the first round against Zizou Bergs. He was then set to play top 10 ranked ATP player Hubert Hurkacz in the 2nd round of the tournament.

Nadal gets another early exit

Though Nadal completed his 200th victory on ATP 1000 clay, this was always going to be a tough 2nd round match with the Polish who has also been in decent form this season. The match as usual started horribly for El Nino as he lost the first set in the most brutal fashion losing 6 games to 1 against Hurkacz. The second set was no better as Nadal went on to lose 6 games to 3 ruining his chances in the tournament completely. 

Looking at this game it is safe to say that it is no longer the same Nadal who we have seen dominate the clay surface. This has been another tournament where Nadal has not looked like the former world number 1 player we had witnessed in the early 2000s. We all know that we love Nadal as one of the most iconic players in the world, but it is safe to say that it has not been a great comeback season for him so far.