Shoes: "It was a dream, I was shocked"

The Spanish Barnabas Zapata He assured that his qualification for the round of 16 at Roland Garros was “a dream”, he admitted he had not yet assimilated it and recalled that two years ago he could not participate in the tournament due to false positives.

“I haven’t assimilated it, I try not to think too much about the fact that I’m in the round of 16, I’m still exhausted, in ‘shock.’ of 25 years old and 131 in the world.

“I’m excited, I don’t expect to get into the round of 16, it’s a dream,” he added, and acknowledged that as soon as he finished he thought of his wife and parents.

With this victory, Zapata made sure to get into the top-100 at the end of the tournament and considered it the result of a lot of work.

With slight bitterness, he recalled that two years ago he was barred from playing because of a false positive for the coronavirus and that, despite writing in the tournament, he had no response.

Zapata congratulated himself on recovering from five match points he slipped in the fourth set.

“I felt bad when I lost. I thought I was about to win, it was hard for me to recover, I looked at my coach because he gave me a big downturn. His presence just calmed me down,” he said.

At that time he went to the bathroom to “leave the chaos and think about doing things right.”

With this victory, Zapata proved that he remembers “complex moments” and pointed out that on the track he tried to release pressure with shouts and hitting the ball as much as possible.

“I was so nervous, I was trying to scream more to release the tension. I need that because I have mental downturns. It’s hard for me to manage those emotions in my head,” he said.

He will have to do it again in his next duel, against the German Alexander Zverev.

Zapata, who says he is an admirer of Nadal and Valencia, wants Real Madrid to win the Champions League final against Liverpool, while taking the opportunity to ask for a ticket and attend it.