Chronicle Rafa Nadal: "I was able to play the game I wanted" | Mutua Madrid Open

Rafael Nadal was fully satisfied with his performance against Alexei Popyrin, which gives him the chance to enter the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open. The Spanish tennis player won in two sets (6-3, 6-3) and analyzed what lies ahead in the key days of the tournament. «It was the first time that I faced him and he is young, with that energy of his own. of his youth. In the end I was able to play the game I wanted and I am happy to go to the quarter-finals, "said the Manacore." We all know the speed of the ball here, faster than in most tournaments on clay. He started spectacularly, I lost the first seven points. It was important to save that 0-40 and from there, little by little, I have been trying to guess what things he does better and worse, "analyzed the five-time Mutua Madrid Open champion. Rafa's progression is correct, according to his own words. «Here it is more difficult to speculate, especially playing against players who attack all the time. I have to be aggressive, be at my level, and that's where we are. I have prepared well and the evolution is being more than positive ». "Tomorrow will be a difficult game, I hope to be ready," he added, referring to the quarterfinal match between the Englishman Daniel Evans or the German Alexander Zverev, champion in 2018.