ATP Barcelona: Rafael Nadal - Enough of surprises
After his surprising quarter-final defeat in Monte Carlo,Rafael Nadal wants to fight back at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Apr 20, 2021, 11:20 pm
When Rafael Nadal loses on clay, it's always a surprise. When the Spaniard is dominated for large parts of a match on his beloved underground, it is of course all the more surprising. But that is exactly what happened in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo: Andrey Rublev barely let the world number three in sets one and three develop and won with 6: 2, 4: 6 and 6: 2.
But it is also true that Nadal had a pitch-black day in the principality, especially with his serve and his backhand. "I did a few wrong things. That was surprising to me. If I train well in the days before and do these things so badly in a match, it's a surprise," said the Spaniard in the run-up to the ATP 500 event in Barcelona.
Nadal with eleven titles in Barcelona
"It happened like this and you have to understand what you did wrong in order not to repeat it," continued Nadal. The 20-time Grand Slam winner did not want to lose any more words about the tournament in the Principality: "Monte Carlo is already over."
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Instead, Nadal wants to focus fully on the event in the Catalan capital. No wonder, after all, the 34-year-old has more than just good memories of the clay court classic: Nadal has already triumphed eleven times in Barcelona, most recently in 2018.
Start against Ilya Ivashka
Also this year the path to the tournament victory should only lead through the Mallorcan, he feels basically good. But: "You will only see where I am in the competition. I am happy to be back in Barcelona after a year break and I am looking forward to playing one more time in Spain. I will try things from now on to do well. "
The first possibility for this will be Nadal on Wednesday against the world number 111. Ilya Ivashka got. Anything but a smooth opening win for the 34-year-old would be a big surprise - and the Spanish clay court king has had enough of these in the past few days.
Here the single tableau in Barcelona
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