The Spaniard gives up in the third set also for the usual problems with his left foot: «I had pain in my foot again, from the middle of the second set onwards. Paris? The first thing I have to do is not to have pain in training “
Rafa Nadal is out of the Internazionali d’Italia. The Spaniard, ten-time champion at the Foro Italico (as well as title holder), was beaten in three sets (1-6 7-5 6-2) in the second round by the Canadian Denis Shapovalov after 2 hours and 37 ‘.
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Nadal, who came out with the standing ovation that the Central reserves for the older ones, did not even go through the locker rooms and presented himself at the press conference in record time: it is evident that something was wrong. «I had pain in my foot again, from the middle of the second set onwards – the words of him -. I’m not injured, I’m a player living with an injury, nothing new ». The same foot, the left, which had forced him to close last season already in August and which does not seem to give him peace. Nadal, by the way, he had recently returned from a stress fracture in his rib in Indian Wells.
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«Unfortunately for me it is difficult to accept this situation – again Rafa -. It can be frustrating that he can’t train properly on some days. I don’t want to take anything away from Shapovalov (who will face Ruud in the quarters, ed): I’d like to talk about tennis, but I’m very honest. Paris? The first thing I need to do is not to have pain in training. The bad thing is that today it is not possible for me to play, but maybe in two days things will get better. On good days and bad days, you have to try to keep going, even if sometimes it’s not easy for me. “
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The audience never stopped cheering on Nadal but, above all from the many forehand mistakes and the inability to resist the long rallies, it was understood that behind this defeat there was more. Nadal hadn’t reached the quarterfinals in Rome at least since 2008: a geological era ago.
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May 12, 2022 (change May 12, 2022 | 11:30 pm)
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