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Surprise in the last quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome: Diego Schwartzman defeated defending champion Rafael Nadal.
10.55 am, September 20, 2020
He had looked strong as a bear in the previous rounds, but the king of the clay court Rafael Nadal he has already been eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. In the dress rehearsal for the French Open that begins next Sunday, the twelve-time Roland Garros champion had to compete Diego schwartzman surprisingly doubling with 2: 6.5: 7. The 34-year-old Spaniard didn’t want to look for excuses.
The main problem for the nine-time Roma winner, who had beaten Schwartzman in the previous nine games, was Saturday’s serve. He also made a number of unusual mistakes. 30 unforced errors and five loss of service are proof of this.
“I didn’t play well enough”
“When you lose your serve so often, you can’t expect to win a match. I have to work on that and I know how to do it,” Nadal said. It just wasn’t his night and it wasn’t the time to make excuses. “I just have to accept that I didn’t play well enough.”
By Nadal, who is in Paris French-Open-Rekord wants to expand from twelve titles so far, it was the first tournament since the break due to the crown crisis. The last time he won the tournament in Acapulco was at the end of February. The Spaniard skipped the trip from the United States to New York to fully prepare on clay for the Grand Slam tournament on the Seine in Europe. The ending was even more surprising.
Djokovic with a leak
His great opponent, on the other hand, is in the semi-finals, albeit in a panic. World number one Novak Djokovic fought the germans Dominik Köpfer with 6: 3.4: 6.6: 3 and destroyed a bat in a fit. Djokovic is under special observation because he hit a linesman in the larynx at the US Open due to a ball that was hit in frustration. According to the rules, this resulted in disqualification, even if this happened inadvertently.
“Well let me tell you, this was not the first or the last racket that I will break in my career,” said Djokovic, 33. He doesn’t want to do that, but: “Sometimes I have to let my anger out. It’s definitely not the best message there is, especially for young players. Of course I’m not perfect.”
Djokovic now plays against Casper ruud (NOR) and awaits his 36th title in a Masters 1000 tournament. This would give him the only lead in this top category of ATP tournament, which he still shares with Nadal with 35 wins each. Roger Federer has 28 titles. Thomas Muster is seventh in the all-time rankings with eight titles, Dominic Thiem has won one so far (Indian Wells 2019).
