Rafa Nadal hasn’t been on the courts for months, but he’s still on everyone’s mind, by fans and their rivals. A good example was experienced this Sunday after the final contention of the Cincinnati Masters 1000.
Novak Djokovic, who ended up taking the title after an epic battle of three hours and 49 minutes against Carlos Alcaraz, He considers that the Murcian reminds him of the Balearic Islands for his way of fighting at every point until the end.
“It reminds me a bit of when I measured myself against Nadal, when we were at the peak of our careers. Each point is a battle. You know he won’t give you more than five points the entire game. You have to earn every point”, said Djokovic in the press conference after the match won 5-7, 7-6(7) and 7-6(4).
gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});
“I have never played so many games like this in my life. Maybe I can compare it to the final with Nadal at the Australian Open from 2012, now three sets and almost four hours. It was one of the most exciting and toughest matches on a mental, emotional and physical level that I have played in my career,” he added.
The Serbian, who won his third title in Cincinnati, He admitted that he was not surprised by the level of Alcaraz and gave in to his precocity.
“I’m not surprised anymore. Maybe it was surprised at the end of last year, or at the beginning of this year. He came out of difficult moments, he went to it, with courage. You can only take your hat off to someone like him, who plays with maturity, who can withstand pressure like this at twenty years old.. Don’t forget your age. It’s something wonderful,” he said.
“It’s great to be alive. All our matches are long. The first one in Madrid last year was 7-6 in the third set. Now it’s 7-6 in the third. Both matches are ‘big’ four or five sets. It just gets better and better for the fans. I don’t know if we like each other that much…“, concluded the Serb.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
