Rafael Nadal will face a new opponent in his first-round match at the Italian Open, with Zizou Bergs set to go up against the Spaniard for the very first time. Bergs, who is named after Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane, will be hoping to pull off a seismic upset when he does battle with Nadal in Rome.
The draw for the Italian Open was made on Monday, with Nadal being pitted against Bergs in a favourable opening match for the 37-year-old. Bergs has played most of his tennis on the ATP Challenger tour in 2024, winning the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger and securing a runner-up finish at the Sarasota Open.
Bergs has recorded three wins from seven matches on the main tour, including on his second appearance at the US Men’s Clay Court Championships last month. He secured victory over Patrick Kypson in the opening round but was knocked out in his next match by eventual champion Ben Shelton.
The Belgian could hardly believe his luck after being drawn against Nadal at the Italian Open, taking to Instagram to express his surprise ahead of the biggest match of his career. He shared an image of himself next to Nadal alongside the caption: “So this is happening on Thursday,” followed by a heart-eyes emoji.
Bergs will enter the Italian Open on the back of a first-round exit in Madrid, losing to Luca Van Assche in his opening match. The odds will be firmly stacked against him on Thursday but he will be hoping to pull off a major shock by reaching the second round at Nadal’s expense.
If Nadal reaches the quarter-finals, he could face defending champion Daniil Medvedev with the pair on a collision course for the last eight. Andrey Rublev or Stefanos Tsitsipas could await the winner of that potential match in the semi-finals, while Novak Djokovic is likely to be in the final after being placed in the other half of the draw.
Nadal has made it clear that he will pick and choose the events he plays at in 2024, with the Manacor native eager to look after his body. He is widely expected to retire in the near future but recently suggested that he could play beyond the clay-court swing, which will culminate at Roland Garros later this month.
Speaking after his Madrid Open exit at the hands of Jiri Lehecka, Nadal said: “I don’t know when is going to be my last match but I don’t want to become too emotional because I want to keep going for a while and just trying to keep focus on my path.
“Today it’s a night that’s going to stay in my heart forever, but at the same time, I try to be strong enough to keep going because it’s not yet enough. I’m going to try to play in Rome. That’s another very special tournament in my career, no? I think, I don’t know, I won 10? So, yeah, a lot of emotions there too.”
