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After Great Start, Nadal Returns from Injury at Madrid Open

Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal (C) does the kick-off ahead the Spanish LaLiga match between Real Madrid and RCD Espanyol at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, 30 April 2022. (EPA)
Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal (C) does the kick-off ahead the Spanish LaLiga match between Real Madrid and RCD Espanyol at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, 30 April 2022. (EPA)
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After Great Start, Nadal Returns from Injury at Madrid Open

Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal (C) does the kick-off ahead the Spanish LaLiga match between Real Madrid and RCD Espanyol at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, 30 April 2022. (EPA)
Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal (C) does the kick-off ahead the Spanish LaLiga match between Real Madrid and RCD Espanyol at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, 30 April 2022. (EPA)

Back home, Rafael Nadal looks to resume his season where he left off before being sidelined by an injury that halted a great start to his year.

Nadal will seek his fourth title of the season this week at the Madrid Open as he returns to action following a rib stress fracture that kept him out for about a month.

Nadal had won his first 20 matches of the year before getting injured in the semifinals at Indian Wells. He made it to the final but lost to Taylor Fritz for his first defeat. Until then, it had been the third-best start to a season on the ATP Tour since 1990.

Nadal won the Australian Open for a record 21st Grand Slam title and also won in Melbourne and Acapulco. He missed tournaments in Miami, Monte Carlo and Barcelona because of the injury.

The 35-year-old Spaniard will be trying to win the Madrid title for the sixth time, and first since 2017, though he said last week he would have "few chances" of winning after arriving "with minimum preparation."

He will debut against either Miomir Kecmanovic or Alexander Bublik.

Nadal could face a semifinal against top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who has been trying to regain his best form after a slow start to the season.

A three-time winner in Madrid, Djokovic was coming off a runner-up finish in Serbia, where he won three three-set matches before losing the final to Andrey Rublev.

His first match in Madrid will be against either Gael Monfils or Carlos Gimeno Valero.

Another home-crowd favorite in Madrid will be young sensation Carlos Alcaraz, who made it to No. 9 in the world after titles in Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Barcelona.

The 18-year-old, touted by many as Nadal’s heir, could face his idol in the quarterfinals. He lost to Nadal in the tournament’s second round last year.

Alcaraz will begin his campaign against Nikoloz Basilashvili or Fabio Fognini.

Former world No. 1 Andy Murray, a two-time winner in Madrid, will be back at the clay-court tournament for the first time since 2017. He will face a marquee first-round match against former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem, a two-time finalist in the Spanish capital.

Thiem has been recovering from a wrist injury that sidelined him for eight months.

The 34-year-old Murray had earlier said he would skip the clay season but ended up accepting the wildcard invitation to play in Spain.

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Kane Hat Trick against Augsburg Hides Bayern's Concerning Lack of Goals

Harry Kane of Munich (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 lead during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg in Munich, Germany, 22 November 2024. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
Harry Kane of Munich (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 lead during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg in Munich, Germany, 22 November 2024. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
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Kane Hat Trick against Augsburg Hides Bayern's Concerning Lack of Goals

Harry Kane of Munich (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 lead during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg in Munich, Germany, 22 November 2024. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
Harry Kane of Munich (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 lead during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and FC Augsburg in Munich, Germany, 22 November 2024. EPA/RONALD WITTEK

Harry Kane scored a hat trick including two penalties for Bayern Munich to beat Augsburg 3-0 in the Bundesliga on Friday.
The win stretched Bayern’s lead to eight points ahead of the rest of the 11th round, and Kane took his goals tally to a league-leading 14, The Associated Press reported.
The England forward is the fastest player to 50 goals in the Bundesliga in what was his 43rd game.
However, coach Vincent Kompany should be concerned by his team’s ongoing difficulty of scoring in matches it dominates. Bayern previously defeated St. Pauli and Benfica only 1-0.
Kompany’s team had to wait until stoppage time before Kane sealed the result with his second penalty. Two minutes later, Kane scored with a header after controlling Leon Goretzka's cross with his first touch for a flattering scoreline.
“We had to be patient,” Kane said. “And at halftime that’s what we said, to keep doing what we’re doing. We had a few chances in the first half and we just had to be a bit more clinical and obviously, thankfully, we got the penalty to kind of open the game up.”
Mads Pedersen was penalized for handball following a VAR review and Kane duly broke the deadlock in the 63rd.
Bayern continued as before with 80% possession, but had to wait for Keven Schlotterbeck to be penalized through VAR for a foul on Kane. Kane sealed the result in the third minute of stoppage time and there was still time for him to grab another.
It’s Bayern’s sixth consecutive win without conceding a goal since it conceded four at Barcelona (4-1) on Oct. 23 in the Champions League.
“You can see now that we have a solid defense and that's the basis, also in games like today's,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich said. “When it's a game of patience, then it's important for us to know that sometimes one goal will have to do. Like today we added two more before the finish, but in the end you only need to score one more than the opponent.”
Bayern next hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, then Borussia Dortmund away in the Bundesliga next weekend, before defending champion Bayer Leverkusen visits in the third round of the German Cup.