On August 15, 2004, Rafael Nadal defeated Argentinean Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-4 to win his first career ATP singles championship at the Idea Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland.
Rafa became the youngest player to win an ATP event at the age of eighteen and two months, having won at the same age in 1999 in Delray Beach, Florida, alongside Australian Lleyton Hewitt.
Following the game, Rafa stated:
After my injury, I needed a victory like this in a competition. All I can hope is that this isn’t the final one. My ranking in the Top 50 will be after this competition. It wasn’t easy to see me in 70th place after my injuries had me ranked 30th.
Rafa didn’t have much time to rejoice because he boarded a plane right away to compete for Spain in the 2004 Olympics.
I play doubles tomorrow and head to Athens tonight. Naturally, I’ll be exhausted after this, but since this is just a doubles match, maybe it won’t have a significant impact on me.