The Spaniard faces physical problems in round of 16 defeat to Shapovalov in Rome
Never in his sports career had Rafael Nadal reached Roland Garros without one final on clay. Only in 2015 did he reach the second Grand Slam of the season without titles, his favorite, but then he reached the final in Madrid. With physical problems, with an obvious limp and exhausted, after another match in bursts at Roland Garros in ten days time, Nadal will appear at Roland Garros without a single injury on clay and suffering a painful defeat in the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Rome against Denis. Shapovalov (1-6, 5-7 and 6-2).
The Spaniard, who no longer has a point to finish the previous matches, as happened against David Goffin in Madrid, got caught up in the Italian night and Shapovalov managed to take advantage of him to get the most out of him and achieve what were only two tennis players. players in history have achieved: conquering a set on clay and in a Masters 1,000. Until this Thursday, only Novak Djokovic, in the Rome final in 2014, and Roger Federer, in the Hamburg final in 2007, could do it. On the other 176 occasions where Nadal went on, he always took the win.
And that seemed to be the path of the Balearics as he headed the second set, after overpowering Shapovalov in the first. After what happened in Australia, when the Canadian forced Nadal into the fifth set, the occasion seemed much calmer this time. Especially since the player from Manacor had three breakpoints in the first game of the second set. Three chances that were decisive in the end.
Shapovalov, who played a terrible game, made dozens of mistakes with his forehand, stayed on the brink of collapse and started a comeback that was completed in three ill-fated Nadal points. Trailing 5-6, Nadal went 30-15 to lose the set with two double fouls in a row and a long lead. Up to 19 unforced errors were punched into that cover by the Spaniard, an abomination for what the winner of 21 Grand Slam is used to.
The Balearic took a bathroom break before returning to the track. He thought he was recharging his batteries, clearing his head, but his physique was no longer serving him. From the beginning of the last manga, it showed a slow pace and a worrisome slack. At one point he had to lean against the drawer where the tennis players leave their towels, because he couldn’t stand it anymore. He fought until the last minute and didn’t give up, but physically he couldn’t. He lost 14 points in a row in the bleed that was the Canadian’s last 6-2.
At a press conference, the Spaniard pointed out that his physical problems are not due to a new injury: «I am not injured. I live with this injury. My day to day is complicated,” said Nadal, who with this defeat will be placed fifth at Roland Garros and face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
In addition, Nadal is left with no options to pick up the pace unless he decides to play in Geneva next week. This is an option he has never done in his career, in the week before Roland Garros. Ten days before the start of the Paris Grand Slam and Nadal collects the quarter-finals in Madrid and the round of 16 in Rome, his worst loot en route to Roland Garros of his life.
Novak Djokovic, one of the Spaniards’ great rivals in the French capital, entered the quarter-finals in Rome with a quiet win over Stan Wawrinka (6-2 and 6-2) and looks set for the month of height that comes with it defending titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Source: La Verdad
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