Darwin Blanch will play Rafael Nadal within the first spherical of the Madrid Open tomorrow.
Darwin Blanch and Rafael Nadal (Picture through X/Imago)
16-year-old Darwin Blanch faces stern scrutiny by followers on social media following the announcement that he’ll play Rafael Nadal within the first spherical of the Madrid Open. For context, he has been handed a wildcard by the match organizers.
The explanation for this scrutiny is that Blanch is assured a minimal paycheck of over $50,000 by being given a fundamental draw wildcard. Some gamers exterior the High 100 who’re speculated to be given a wildcard can not even make that type of cash all yr.
Nonetheless, as a result of Blanch is now signed with IMG (which additionally owns the Madrid match) and Nike, he shall be given privileges over way more gifted gamers, even from the identical age group.
As well as, Blanch additionally trains at Juan Carlos Ferraro’s academy in Spain, the identical place the place Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz trains in preparation for tournaments. The American teenager has additionally fallen from his No. 4 profession excessive in juniors to No. 10 after consecutive losses.
In the meantime, Blanch has been doing fairly properly within the junior class. Final yr, the left-hander reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and this yr’s ITF World Tennis Tour. He grew to become the second youngest participant within the historical past of the ATP to earn an ATP rating level on the age of 14 years and 5 months.
Tennis followers react to alleged corruption in males’s tennis as Darwin Blanch will get preferential therapy
Tennis followers on X (previously generally known as Twitter) have hit out on the clear allegation of corruption in males’s tennis, which noticed 16-year-old Darwin Blanch drawn to play towards Rafael Nadal when different children and older gamers earned the appropriate.
Sharing a large spectrum of reactions on-line, right here’s what followers must say:
A tennis fan reacted:
Blanch will face Nadal tomorrow in what is ready to be a match between the younger and the outdated era. Earlier than Blanch was born, Nadal had two Grand Slam titles to his title.
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https://firstsportz.com/rafael-nadals-madrid-open-opponent-darwin-blanch-faces-scrutiny-over-nike-deal/