Rome Masters 1000: Rafa Nadal travels to Rome with homework

Rafa Nadal disputes this week the Masters 1000 in Rome. The Spaniard is looking for his tenth title at the Foro Italico and improving the sensations after falling in the quarterfinals in both Monte Carlo and Madrid. The title next Sunday would be an extra confidence before one of the great events of the season: Roland Garros.After taking a bath in the waters of his native Mallorca, Rafa Nadal has recharged batteries to travel to Rome in an important week for he. The defeats in Monte Carlo and Madrid, only mitigated by the sweet victory in Barcelona against Tsitsipas, raise doubts about his chances of adding a new title on clay. Especially in a scenario more open than ever where not only Novak Djokovic is emerging as the rival to beat, but Tsitsipas, Thiem, the new champion in Madrid Zverev and other young people like Berrettini and company come wanting to give the bell. Rafa Nadal blamed himself for many “unjustifiable” errors at key moments, which made him give up against Alexander Zverev in the Madrid quarterfinals. Despite this, the 20 Grand Slams champion made a positive reading for the week. «It has been a week where a lot of positive things have happened, I have done a lot of good things in training. I’m leaving Madrid with good feelings in general and with an ugly feeling of having played a game like today, “he said last Friday. See this post on Instagram A post shared by Rafa Nadal (@rafaelnadal) His purpose is to “go to Rome and win Rome.” «The land tour is quite simple. Quarters, champion and quarters. Now comes Rome, this is what there is, “explained Nadal and stressed that his game is going” with an upward trend.Successes in Rome have usually come hand in hand with triumphs in Paris, where he has always reached having won at least one outstanding clay title.Rome to regain sensations It seems necessary to win the title at the Foro Italico ahead of Roland Garros, where he could arrive as third head of series. Especially to dispel any doubts that may arise in difficult moments, especially now that tennis players like Rublev or Zverev have managed to win it for the first time on clay in recent weeks, their overwhelming dominance on clay for the last 16 years makes it almost an obligation to conquer a Masters 1000 before arriving in Paris or the runrún unleashes. A noise that has already been generated in recent years and that has been in charge of silencing that of Manacor.In 2019, Nadal fell in Monaco, Barcelona and Madrid and even considered stopping. He went on and bit his ninth crown in Rome before succeeding again in Paris. Last year, surprised in the quarterfinals in Rome by Diego Schwartzman, he went to Paris with hardly any shooting due to the break to finish winning his 13th Roland Garros after a real exhibition in the final against Djokovic. Nadal has an exciting week ahead of him at the you hope to take the steps to reach your goal. This same Monday he will find out who his opponent is in the Foro Italico, which will come out of the first round duel between Ugo Humbert and Jannik Sinner. In the quarterfinals Zverev threatens, launched after conquering Madrid, and only in the final could he meet again with Djokovic who reappears in action. Rome can serve as a touchstone, but Paris, Paris is another story.