assured Rafael Nadal this Wednesday, after losing to Croatian Borna Coric in his Cincinnati premiere after almost a month and a half off, that “‘I’m not ready to win'”, and acknowledged that the stomach injury suffered at Wimbledon still conditions his game and this prevents him from competing one hundred percent.
“Obviously I didn’t play my best game. It’s something that can happen, historically this tournament is difficult for me. He will return after a difficult period. But this is an easy thing to acceptit’s easy to say ‘congratulations to Borna’, it’s just better,” Nadal said at the post-match press conference at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
Nadal acknowledged that he needed “days” to train to gradually regain his best form, after succumbing 7-6 (9), 4-6 and 6-4 against Coric.
“Many times I’ve done positive things coming back from injuries, but in this case I’m clearly not ready to win right now.“said the Majorcan.
Despite the difficulties, Nadal managed to level the match in the second set and also went 0-30 with Coric on serve in the third set that could change the history of the match.
“If you don’t know how to take advantage of those opportunities, you lose. But I know the way, the most important thing is to be healthy. I came from an injury that was difficult to manage. With stomach problems you never know when you’ve recovered one hundred percent“, said.
He emphasized his gratitude to the organization of the tournament and the fans who drove him to center court, although he considered that “for some reason he didn’t” have the “best feelings” at this event.
“It is difficult to analyze the game. When you have a scar, the line is very small. When the scar doesn’t have much flexibility, you have to be careful all the time“, he claimed.
“I’ll probably do some tests to make sure everything’s okay. But I trained better than how I played today. Nothing happened“, he insisted.
Nadal’s next challenge is the US Open, which starts on August 29 and it was a tournament of which he has “fantastic memories”.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
