Murray Beats Nadal… In A Video Game

“Thank you, Andy!”

That was Rafael Nadal’s message for Andy Murray on Tuesday after their match in the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro. Perhaps the Spaniard was thanking the Brit for a video game lesson.

Murray defeated Nadal 3-0 — losing only one point — in Group 1 play. 

“I think I’ve got a chance yeah, for sure,” Murray said of his chance to go all the way in the event.

Nadal was left speechless as Murray won all the long rallies, building points as if they were actually on Manolo Santana Stadium. Nadal was left shaking his head in awe of Murray’s play as the Brit even came to net to finish off points.

In his first match of the tournament on Monday, Murray constantly bantered with Benoit Paire, even grunting during points. But Murray was locked in against Nadal, completely in business mode against the Spaniard.

Although this was a virtual match, Murray interestingly has won the pair’s past two ATP Head2Head meetings in Madrid, too, defeating Nadal in the 2015 final and the 2016 semi-finals. Nadal leads their rivalry 17-7. According to one of the event’s commentators, Nadal mentioned that Murray has been working on his virtual game, leading to some good-natured banter.

“I don’t need to train a lot to beat him in this game. He’s not very good,” Murray teased. “If I practised a lot, it would have been even worse for him today!”

Murray returned to Manolo Santana Stadium to earn another 3-0 win, cruising past Denis Shapovalov. Murray asked one of the commentators which players have been standing out, and Diego Schwartzman’s name came up.

“Schwartzman?!” Murray said, surprised. “I practised with Schwartzman and he was terrible when I played with him! Maybe he’s been practising.”

This pioneering charity initiative will donate a total of €50,000 to the Madrid Food Bank to help reduce the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the tournament will include a total purse of €300,000 in the two competitions (€150,000 ATP and €150,000 WTA), from which the winners will be able to decide how much they donate to their peers on Tour who are currently suffering economically.