ATP Barcelona: Rafael Nadal-Flavio Cobolli 6-2 6-3

After an absence of more than three months from the playing field, it took Rafael Nadal 85’s to regain success in an official tournament. In the first round of the ATP 500 in Barcelona, in fact, the Mallorcan defeated with a clear 6-2 6-3 the Italian Flavio Cobolli.

After a couple of settling games, Nadal began to take the lead in the match by snatching service from Cobolli already in the fourth game. The Italian, for his part, tried to hold his own against the Spaniard, but in the seventh game came the second break by the Mallorcan, who then easily won the partial 6-2.

In the second set, the ‘inertia è still in favor of Nadal, who manages to break Cobolli’s serve immediately. The Azure, however, manages to fight back, and thanks to a few too many errors by the Spaniard, he manages to get several opportunities to bring himself back on even terms. At that moment, comes another lapse on the part of the Italian player, who, after failing to regain the score, suffers another break that the Manacor left-hander manages until the final 6-3.

In the next round Rafael Nadal will face the tournament’s No. 4 seed Alex de Minaur.

The Canadian è the main target for the post-Osimhen

Napoli è is ready to make an assault on Jonathan David, who è has been identified as the main candidate to replace Victor Osimhen, who will leave the partenopei at the end of the season. Executives of the blue club including Giovanni Manna (future Dt of the club) have reportedly already had contacts with the entourage of the Canadian footballer.

From the meetings held it would appear that the young center forward would be open to the possibility of his transfer to Serie A. However, the main obstacle would be the high demand of Lille, which would only let its striker leave for a sum around 40-45 million euros.

Napoli, complicit in the excellent relations with the French club, would be pushing for a major discount and reach an agreement on the basis of a 35 million euro offer plus bonuses. Simpler, on the other hand, would be the talk related to the player’s salary, who would ask for a five-year 3 million euro plus bonuses.

New meetings between the parties would be scheduled in the coming weeks, as the intention of the Neapolitan club would be to armor Jonathan David anticipating the competition. On the Canadian, in fact, there would also be AC Milan, which could enter the race in case of failure to assault Joshua Zirkzee.

FIA WEC debuts at Imola with the second round of the 2024 season

Despite not having hosted a WEC stage so far, Imola is not è new to endurance racing: exactly 50 years ago, in 1974, in fact, it hosted the 1000 km of Imola. Subsequently, from 2013 to 2016 and then again in 2022, a round of the European Le Mans Series was held at the circuit, which will return here again next July.

With the presence of 14 manufacturers (Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Isotta Fraschini, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota), 37 cars (19 Hypercars; 18 LMGT3) and a truly stellar entry list of 110 drivers from 28 different countries, the WEC is having a golden moment. Imola will also be the first race for Peugeot TotalEnergies’ all-new 9X8 2024 Hypercar, which will sport important new features on the aerodynamic front, including the rear wing, as well as different width tires.

The entry list for the 6 Hours of Imola includes several home teams and drivers, including last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winners in Ferraris and Italian manufacturers making their debut just this season, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini. Among the drivers there are 12 Italians who will participate, including Antonio Giovinazzi (Ferrari AF Corse), Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari AF Corse), Mirko Bortolotti (Lamborghini Iron Lynx), Alessandro Pier Guidi (Ferrari AF Corse) and Edoardo Mortara (Lamborghini Iron Lynx). Really great è then the wait is also great for home hero and multiple MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, who this year began his career in the WEC with a BMW M4 LMGT3 of Team WRT.

The Imola stage sees only one change in the entry list from last month’s opening race in Qatar. The No. 2 Cadillac will, in fact, have only two drivers, Briton Alex Lynn and New Zealander Earl Bamber, confirmed to drive the Cadillac V-Series R Hypercar.
During each lap of the 4.9-kilometer-long circuit, the Hypercar drivers will reach top speeds in the order of 312 km/h and will travel with the throttle fully open for 50 percent of the lap.

The Imola circuit, one of the three anti-hours of the 2024 WEC, in addition to the Sao Paulo circuit in Brazil and the COTA in the United States, offers truly unique sensations, and seeing the Hypercars travel the 4,909-meter track will surely be a spectacle to remember.

At last month’s Qatar Airways Qatar 1812km, Porsche won in both the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories. However, there will certainly be no shortage of contenders at Imola who will try to oust the German manufacturer. In fact, thanks to a very different circuit configuration, a duration of only six hours as opposed to the ten hours of the season-opening race and a narrow circuit that makes overtaking difficult, one can only expect a truly, exciting race!