Rafael Nadal says he was ‘lucky’ to have won his second round match at the BNP Paribas Open after surviving a big scare against rising star Sebastian Korda.
Nadal, who is yet to lose a match this year, battled for two-and-a-half hours before winning 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(3), in what was a rollercoaster encounter. In the decider the Spaniard was broken two times in a row and trailed 2-5 before coming back to level. He went on to prevail in the tiebreaker by claiming four straight points to secure yet another comeback win. At the Australian Open he was down by two sets against Daniil Medvedev before turning the match around in his favour.
Openly criticizing his latest performance against Korda, Nadal admitted that he believed at one stage he was going to lose to the 21-year-old. Last year Korda won his maiden ATP title in Italy and defeated two top 10 players for the first time in his career.
“Maybe I played one of my worst matches of the year so far,” Nadal said.
“But Seb played great and his ball was very hard to play against. I am happy just to get through and have a chance to play better in the next round.”
The 35-year-old drew parallels between the match and his previous clash against Medvedev by explaining on both occasions he was determined to end on a positive note.
“I thought I was lost today… and in Australia [Australian Open, I had a] very similar feeling. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to keep trying or keep fighting,” he added.
“Even if I think I’m going to lose the match, my mindset before returning that 5-2 game is, ‘OK, I am playing bad, I had two breaks, but even if I’m going to lose, I’m going to try to finish the match having some better feelings.’
“So I need to fight to find these better feelings in that last game.”
Inevitably the disparity in experience between the two played a significant part with the American youngster producing a series of costly unforced errors during the closing stages. Following their meeting, Korda proclaimed to reporters that Nadal ‘will always be his idol.’
As for the fighting ability of the Spaniard during matches, he says it is linked with his upbringing. For most of his career, Nadal was coached mainly by his uncle Toni until 2017 when he decided to spend more time working at their academy. He is now mentored on the Tour by Carlos Moya, Francisco Roig and Marc Lopez.
“The reason why I have been fighting during all my tennis career or I have the right self-control or I have the right attitude or fighting spirit during my whole tennis career is simple, because I grow with this kind of education,” he explained.
“My uncle, my family, never allowed me to break a racquet, never allowed me to say bad words or threw or give up a match. Probably when I was a kid, they didn’t care much about winning or losing.’
“The most important thing was the education and the fact that I grow with the values, with the right values.”
Nadal will next play Dan Evans in Indian Wells where he will be seeking his 17th consecutive win this year.
