TENNIS Internazionali BNL d’Italia – N. Djokovic d. R. Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. An interview with Rafael Nadal.
Q:Why is so tough to beat Novak?
RAFAEL NADAL: For everybody is tough to beat Novak, not only for me. He’s one of the best of the world, nothing special. I think I played well for a moment, had my chances, sometimes I felt like I needed some extra energies to let him play one more ball and in more difficult position but my legs didn’t answer after a hard week. I let him play in a good position when he had the first ball good, and for me was very difficult to arrive on the ball and to change the dynamic of the point. In general I can do a little bit better, but I am very proud of this week.
Q:Wawrinka, you and Nole: 3 different winners for 3 Master events for the first time in 10 years. We may say that the French Open is unpredictable…
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t care, I don’t know. I think about myself and what I have to do. I think this week was important for me, I win 600 hundred points, I played a final here which is a good result. I was able to compete good with one the best player of the moment, I played well against tough opponents like Andy and Dimitrov. If you ask me about Paris, my feelings are better now than a week ago, playing clay season every week was little bit better for me and now I hope to feel ready for that.
Q:What happened when you was 4-1 up in the 1st set and when you broke back in the 3rd set and immediately lost your service.
RAFAEL NADAL: He played great, it’s our sport. In the 4-1 in the 1st I played some bad games, but in the 3 all to the 6-3 he played great tennis and for me, as I said, I needed a little bit more fuel to try to resist him in the last three game, but is true that after that comeback I wasn’t in a negative spot with the 3-3 in the 3rd but it’s true that i didn’t have enough strength to hit the first shot, the right intensity, his return was always great and if you’re not able to be quick on the serve and recover with the right spin you’re going to be in a negative position against that kind of player.
Q:Do you think that to play on 3 nights in a row affected the way you play today? I saw you were running much more better on the right than on the left: if there’s a problem that came out yesterday that you have to solve and what is it for you the key to try to do better.
RAFAEL NADAL: I am doing the right things, I improved during the tournament. Rome now is the past and I have to start to think to the Roland Garros. My chances to play well at Rolamd Garros two weeks ago weren’t very high, now I arrive to the Roland Garros with more encourage. Playing at night three times in a row wasn’t the best thing for me but the problem is not playing at night but that the matches I played were very long and I went to bed at 3 in the morning and that’s not the ideal thing to recover. In Rome maybe it wasn’t the perfect schedule for me, but I accepted. For the running, I played 3 very tough matches, 10 in 12 days, and this week was very hard, mentally and physically which is the most is toughest thing. I was a little bit tired.
Q:Having lost 3 matches in a row with Nole affected you or not?
RAFAEL NADAL: It’s sport, it’s part of a career. He was able to beat me the last 4 times, last year I was able to beat him in Roland Garros, in Montreal and in the Us Open, that’s it: moments are moments and I have to keep working hard lime I did in all my career and try to be ready for the next. We’ll see when is it.
