"Guys I Play Nadal WTF" - American Teenager Darwin Blanch's Reaction To Drawing 37 Year Old Rafa In The First Round Of This Week's Madrid Open

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We've got a big tennis tournament starting tomorrow in Madrid as the European clay court season rounds into high gear. Rafael Nadal currently finds himself in good enough shape to keep playing as he attempts to get some matches under his belt before the French Open begins at the end of May. So who did he draw in the first round? How's 16 year old Darwin Blanch sound? Here was the kid's reaction to finding out that news. 

21 year age difference is CRAZY. Rafa had won three slams before this dude was even born. To make everyone sound old, this dude was born AFTER Nadal's epic Wimbledon Final win over Federer in 2007. 

Now for the record, Blanch is no slouch. Many believe in a few years the young American is going to be a real problem on the tour. When you watch him play he actually just looks like a carbon copy of Ben Shelton, just not nearly as polished. Eventually his game will develop and he'll be a name a lot of people know, but for now? Well, Nadal opened as a titanic -5000 favorite. This is the tournament attempting to give Rafa a free pass into the second round and help him secure some confidence. This should be an ass-whooping. If it's not, Nadal should question everything about the current form of his game, if he's not already. 

Sick moment for the 16 year old though. This most likely is going to be the final summer of Nadal's career. Hell, any wrong step could result in him hanging em' up for good. The fact that he gets to play Nadal despite how young and inexperienced he is, is fucking awesome. Moment of a lifetime. Doesn't matter if you get double bageled, just enjoy the ride and tell people after the fact that you got to play Rafael Nadal in a professional tennis match. When I was 16 I was worried about getting my learner's permit to drive with my parents in the car. Should have been a 6'3" tennis player instead of a 5'9" blogger. Dammit. 

P.S. The Madrid Open is always a disaster. Last year we had cake gate, the silencing of women, and models for ball girls. There's was even a question of whether they watered down the court excessively before the final to benefit Carlos Alcaraz. Excited to see what this year has for us.