From Madrid, our correspondent
An hour and a little more. It certainly wasn’t a challenging debut in Madrid for Rafael Nadalwho had no problem against the talented but decidedly immature Darwin Blanch. The 16-year-old American managed just one game against the Mallorcan champion, who appeared to improve on serve compared to Barcelona, although It is very difficult to gather reliable information from a match like this. Three quarters of an hour after his success Nadal spoke in Press conference to the media present at Mutua Madrid Open. Below are his most interesting statements.
Q: Regardless of the result, did you feel as you hoped on the pitch? You said that under these conditions you wouldn’t play in Paris, has anything changed?
Rafael Nadal: “I’m not a resultsist, I never have been. I’m a realist and I see what happens. I faced a player with great potential and who I believe will have a great future, however Today he made so many mistakes. I don’t know what it will be like in a few weeks, but today it is not yet solid enough. It was an hour long game, it didn’t change any of my feelings. I will not decide today, tomorrow or during this tournament whether I will play Roland Garros, but only after Rome. As I said yesterday, I will only go to Paris if I am competitive. I’ll follow my path and if I get there I’ll get there, if not, no.”.
Q: On Saturday you will find Alex de Minaur again. Would it surprise you to win?
Rafael Nadal: “Yes, totally, but it wouldn’t change me much to be honest. On a personal and sporting level, winning or losing on Saturday makes no difference to me. Today for me there are much more important things, I certainly don’t aspire to win this tournament. If I did, we would be talking about something else, about what we have been talking about for the last 15 years. Saturday will be another opportunity to see how I’m doing tennis-wise. In Barcelona I lasted one set, these are matches where great physical effort is needed to win. My priority today is that nothing happens. It’s the first time in a year and a half that I’ve played two weeks in a row and, even though I haven’t played much, I’m training day after day. On Saturday I’ll try to have fun, but I’m not the favorite to win. Not nowadays”.
Q: How far along are you physically?
Rafael Nadal: “I would have liked what is happening in recent weeks to have happened in Brisbane, Australia, in Doha and in Indian Wells. Unfortunately something didn’t work in Brisbane, I have to make sure that what happened there doesn’t happen again. I had to start again from scratch another time and, with a physique like mine, with many years of career behind me, it’s not the best. Maybe in Australia I saw myself as better than I really was, I don’t know. I would have liked to play 100% on clay, but it didn’t happen that way. I have accepted the moment I am in and live with ittrying every day to give a little more, but without any kind of drama. Three weeks ago I didn’t know if I would return to play an official match: I’ve now been playing for two weeks straight, even with just a few games under my belt. I’m really happy to be here, I say it with my heart in my hand”.
Q: At this point in your career, what does it mean to you to have your whole family come along to watch your games?
Rafael Nadal: “Surely I would like to play a little more and give them a memory of me on the pitch, but I probably won’t be able to do it for a long time. I’m still very happy with it having a great family and a great team by my side, who have helped me through every single day of my life. It’s still like that today, isn’t it? From a certain point of view I’m happy that they are here with me, but they will continue to be so even at the end of my career. This is what makes me happiest.”.
