ATP Masters Madrid: Rafael Nadal - "For me the most difficult tournament"
Rafael Nadal went to the press in the run-up to the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid and talked about the difficulty of the tournament and his title in Barcelona.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: May 02, 2021, 10:04 pm
What a debut that Rafael Nadal made last week at the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona for the tournament duo in his home country. The world number two climbed from round to round after a slow start, only to finally get a killer performance in the final - and to wrestle a dazzling Stefanos Tsitsipas in an epic fight.
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Now, with the trophy from Catalonia in his luggage, Nadal is heading to the capital of Spain, where the ATP 1000 event in Madrid is on the program. A tournament that Nadal is getting along with unusually poorly. Measured against the high demands of the Mallorcan, of course. "Madrid is the most difficult tournament for me. Everyone knows that. At the same time, it is one of the most emotional tournaments for me because I play at home. We will have the opportunity to play in front of the audience again. That means a lot to me," said so the 34-year-old ahead of the Madrid tournament.
Barcelona "major title"
The win in Barcelona was meanwhile an important confidence boost for the Spaniard, as Nadal explained: "My mentality remains the same in every tournament: to play at the highest level from the first game. I just have to say that Barcelona are a very important one Week was for me. Of course, without doing my best from the start, I could keep a positive attitude and accept the challenge and try to win games without doing my best in my career. "
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The preparation for the tournament is also going quite positively, as Nadal emphasized: "I feel very good. On Friday I trained in a double session, yesterday the same and maybe today too. I trained a lot and I am very happy that I can be here. " The world number two could face his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, the 17-year-old meets French Adrian Manarino at the beginning. A possible opponent in the quarter-final for Nadal would be Alexander Zverev.
Check out the Barcelona draw here!
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