Rafa Nadal opens his third tournament in a year and a half, with hip surgery in the middle and other physical problems. Like the recent stomach, which means you have to remove it with great care. “I’m not hurt, but I don’t know how much I can handle, we have to find out what the limit is,” he said after beating world number 62, Italian Flavio Cobolli, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 25 minutes.
The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, recent champion of the Monte Carlo ATP Masters 1000 and three-time finalist in Barcelona, has assured this Tuesday that Rafa Nadal, despite the inactivity, is the favorite.
Asked about it, the man from Manacori, 37 years old, was forced: “It’s stupid, he knows it’s not like that.” It came from his heart, because in the current circumstances there remains uncertainty as to what will happen the next day.
Although he understood that it was also a way for the Greeks to respect the figure of Rafa Nadal in general in tennis and specifically on the clay court. “It is respect for what I have done in the tournament, there is a story behind it, but everyone knows that I am not the favorite,” said the Spaniard.
About this label, “I am possible now (Flavio Cobolli), although I swear I had no idea if I was. Tomorrow (Alex de Miñaur) I am not, but it doesn’t matter either. I have no idea how I will answer.”
Because “with all humility, tennis has been a problem, it has been many other things. If I look at how I was a week ago, the change has been important.”
He goes with the handbrake on because “the important thing is that nothing happens. This is not the week to push everything my heart tells me. You have to play as logical as possible, without crossing dangerous lines.”
Since “I don’t know how my body will respond,” if the physique lasts. His priority is not to be injured in what is his start of the gravel tour, his return to the circuit. Don’t repeat Brisbane in January.
“It’s like a jungle, you never know what you might find. The duel against De Minaur will have a rhythm that I don’t know if I can follow, but we’ll try,” he concluded.
Source: La Verdad
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