Rafael Nadal managed to knock down Reilly Opelka in a real match played in the round of 16 of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 , but he set off the alarms due to foot discomfort that he would confirm in the post-crash press conference. Rafa , however, believes that these ailments will not lead him to leave, for the moment, despite the care he must have in an area where he suffers from a chronic injury and in which he is playing “in pain”.
“Yes, sometimes I play with pain. Today I started well, but in the second set I felt a bit worse, to be honest. I was able to keep going, keep running until the end… But yes, I’m not in the moment to lie or hide things. I am very happy to be playing tennis . Today was a little worse. It is true that the last two days my foot has been bothering me a little more, ” Nadal stated sincerely at a press conference.
“It is something that can happen. We know. You have to try to stay positive and think that it is going to be the last tournament on hard court. The land will help. Now I will have to make the last effort to do my best here . Hopefully the foot can continue to hold. I’m not thinking much about it, just about my tennis and my next game, “he added, about his foot discomfort.
Nadal completed his best match of the tournament against Opelka, a giant of 2.11 who was much more than a serve in the duel against the reigning Australian Open champion. «Happy to win, no matter how many sets. But I am happy, of course, to be in the quarterfinals of this great tournament, playing better, without a doubt. It was my best game and I’m happy with the way I was able to play throughout the game. I just had a bad game. Otherwise, I think I was solid. I had to do it against a very difficult player like Reilly.”
Now, Nadal will face the controversial Nick Kyrgios, who has great respect in sports for the quality he possesses. « Nick is difficult in any condition, isn’t he? When he is playing well and when he is motivated he is one of the toughest opponents, no doubt. Tomorrow is going to be a tough match, but we are in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, Masters 1000. We can’t expect anything else. I hope to be ready for it ».
Asked about the change in the rules of the Grand Slams, Nadal gave his opinion referring to Roland Garros, his favorite tournament. “Well, I haven’t given it much thought, really. Honestly, I don’t have a clear opinion. Happy with it, I don’t care. Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference. I read that everyone will be the same. In a way, that’s a positive. I don’t think that at Roland Garros it will change much. In my opinion, the biggest impact is going to be at Wimbledon . It is very difficult to break, so the matches are very long, but I do not feel that this changes much for Roland Garros.
Nadal and his mentality
With an 18-0 balance in 2022, Nadal does not hide his surprise and happiness at what he has harvested. «The human mentality, normally, makes you get used to good things. You don’t have much time to be very sad when you lose and you don’t have much time to celebrate when you win. Of course, for me it’s super surprising to be in the position I’m in, winning three titles already , to be in the quarter-finals here. I can’t say it’s a dream because I couldn’t even dream about it three months ago, two months ago. I’m just enjoying every moment.”
Opelka played a great game, but Nadal explained his tricks to beat him. « I don’t have a secret, I can tell you what I tried . What I tried is not to help him. Play from good positions, especially when I’m serving. I tried to play with a high first serve percentage, especially in tie breaks, because then if you start losing first serves, you open the door to it, it’s not in your hands anymore. Finding the right balance between not playing too aggressive, because then you risk making mistakes, and not playing too defensive because you know he has a great forehand and he’s going to go for the winner.”
