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Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal: that would have been the final dream at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome! But it exploded. The world number 2 Nadal (ATP 2) is already in the quarterfinals against Diego Schwartzman (28, ATP 15) 2: 6, 5: 7. With his first defeat in the tenth game against the Argentine, the king of the earth batida not only lost its tenth title in the “Foro Italico”. He also makes it through the final dress rehearsal at the French Open, which begins next weekend, where he should compete as the favorite under enormous pressure of expectations.
A suboptimal location determination before Paris. But Nadal does not look for excuses. Conditions were extremely humid, making it difficult to hit the balls and preventing him from containing Schartzman. “But in this special and unpredictable year there is no need to look for excuses,” said the Mallorcan yesterday at the virtual midnight press conference.
Eight mistakes in a row at the start of the game, three service games lost in the first set, you couldn’t win a difficult match that way. “It wasn’t my night at all and it was great. It is time to accept that he was not playing well. Now I have to find out with my team what it was about. “
Now it’s the French Open
You don’t have much time to do it. Nadal travels home and wants to work on his weaknesses there. He promises: “I know how to do it, I will train with the right attitude and try to be prepared for Paris.”
Mentally, you don’t want to overestimate the bankruptcy of Rome, either. «It was my first tournament in so long without competition. I played at least three games, did my job in two and fought to the end. “
Schwartzman will face Canadian Denis Shapovalov (21, ATP 14) in tonight’s semi-finals. Whether the winner of this game will face Djokovic in the final (which incidentally has a limited number of spectators) will be decided in the afternoon. The Serbian world number 1 will face 21-year-old surprise semifinalist Casper Ruud (No, ATP 34) at 2pm
