Francis Rog: "Rafa came to win"

Francis Roigcoach ng Rafael Nadaldoes not hesitate to speak about his student’s purpose in Wimbledon: “He came to win”, sentence. What the draw and tournament will bring later is another story, but the intention is to fight for the third title at the All England Club. “He has a little thorn left to win again.”

Roig, who was with Nadal with Marc López since they arrived in London last week, attended three Spanish media, including Eph, before a balearic debut against Francisco Cerúndolo in Wimbledon.

“It evolved from the first day, I see it with guarantees to start and get the first games. Obviously, if we’re in the final we have a long way to go “, starting roig in a relaxed way.” But I think he’s happy and the foot, thank God, works well at the moment. That is very important because it lets us spend some time on the track. It is a bit better to reduce it, and it spends a bit at first. Eventually, he has been playing here for three years and the memory and the feeling you have from one year to the next is fundamental, because you have a preserved. It always costs you a little bit, but if you’ve played in the past year and the rest, that helps with adaptation“, Said the coach.

For Nadal, it was a time trial to get here in good condition, due to the treatment of his foot and narrow margin between the Roland Garros final and his debut on Wimbledon, just three weeks to get used to the most dangerous surface.

“Look, it’s hard to interpret how the ball will be bouncing”, Roig’s hint. “There are balls that don’t really come fast, but when they bounce, they are speeding up and others are very fast traveling from the beginning, but then being absorbed by the bounce. Sometimes it seems to hit you and you. You a little, but then it remains dead and you’ve hooked it, and if you don’t hit it properly … Hitches are also very important. Not because you are too fast, you will hurt the rival. We do a lot there. There are many opportunities when just passing the ‘swing’ you run the ball very well, and there are others where you hit it very strongly and the ball is dead to bounce. You need to have a good body and leg movement, and then you have to hit a way to run the ball. “

Nadal’s left foot, unknown and annoyed after Wimbledon, was behind and in conversations. Balearic warned it at a press conference and Roig insisted: “It’s all right, it’s okay. Rafa is happy because he’s training with guarantees. He himself said: Now he can go out there and walk normally. We’re not talking about it anymore. Not this cure, but we don’t talk about it often.. It’s not about getting up and, hey, how’s your foot? No. We don’t talk about that often. ”

For Nadal, it was his first host in Wimbledon since 2019. Three years without playing the tournament, since the semifinals in 2018 and 2019 and eleven years after his final final in these courts.

“The last three years he came here he played very wellwhy loser here [Gilles] Müller (2017) may happen to you, but the three previous battles he played well and not defeated by a set. But beware, we also had moments of crisis, eh? Because there were days when things were not going well, though it was eventually going well. But when the competition begins, things change because people don’t play calmly. “

“In practice you can get everything, but then in the competition you have to put them and everything changes. Now the days are a bit complicated, a bit windy and a bit cold, and the ball is heavy. There, for example, [dice señalando la pista central], the ball is bouncing fewer than this, and the difference is really noticeable. If it is cold there is a lot of differences; However, if it is hot and a few days passed and the grass is more tight, the story is changing. “

“In 2018 he was crazy about Djokovic And the following year he had no courage and determination. He had a thorn in trying to win here once, “Roig added.

Among the facets emphasized by the coach of the 22-time grand slam champion was Nadal’s capacity for recovery and enthusiasm after winning Roland Garros as fourteen.

“Having the strength to do what you have done is very difficult. He needs that energy. After Roland Garros, which is a tough, tough, tough contest, he had a few days without school to re-interact with another Grand Slam that, we can’t fool ourselves, he’s coming to Win; Then maybe he did some semis and he played well, and happy with himself, but he was who he was and he was always trying to win “.

“Obviously he is one of the favorites, because he is always among the favorites; Now, the best candidate for me is Djokovic and then there’s Berrettini and Hurkacz, maybe. Now, they are a bit ahead of us, although maybe in a week, if we go to the tournament, Rafa might get them out “.

Unbeknownst to the Spanish team was the possibility of winning the four grand slam a year, a success in Men’s Tennis only Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) were achieved.

“Not forbidden. No, because we know each other. Apart from the difficult, there are so many more things that need to happen… Our concern is to be good in this contest, nothing more “, Roig concluded.