{"id":76577,"date":"2019-05-07T22:55:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T21:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/?p=61380"},"modified":"2019-05-07T22:55:18","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T21:55:18","slug":"nadal-ready-for-his-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/nadal-ready-for-his-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Nadal, ready for his opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal appeared in the Mutua Madrid Open press conference room on Tuesday before his campaign in the Caja M\u00e1gica gets underway. The world number 2, a five-time champion of the tournament, dispelled any doubts about his fitness and also touched on the following subjects:<\/span><\/p>\n

How he is feeling:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cIt\u2019s been a complicated week, but a positive one. I\u2019ve trained well. It really has been one of the best weeks in terms of how I feel in training since I got back on clay. It\u2019s true that I woke up on Sunday with a stomach bug. I came here to have my photo taken with David (Ferrer), but I had to return to the hotel. Yesterday I trained a little and today I trained a bit more, a little better. But I\u2019m not going to lie to you; I\u2019m still not feeling 100% physically, because I\u2019m coming out of that process. <\/span><\/p>\n

The positive thing is that I was able to train for about an hour and a half today. I hope to improve a little more tomorrow. I\u2019m better today than yesterday. And yesterday I was better than the day before. So I hope that the progress continues tomorrow. It\u2019s true that when you go through these recoveries your body is a little weaker, of course. There is a little more risk of things happening. Of course, it\u2019s an important tournament for me. And I hope to be ready. I think that I\u2019ve done things properly and I feel good. I hope that this doesn\u2019t stop me from playing the way I\u2019ve been playing\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Felix Auger-Aliassime:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cA difficult opponent, of course. A young player who started the year well, who\u2019s had good results, who\u2019s played quite a lot on clay this year\u2026 a difficult opponent. Maybe even more so here, where everything is a little more equal. I have to be fit. With enough energy. And my body has to respond well. Then, I have to play good tennis. If that\u2019s the case, I hope to have my chances. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m working on\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

No titles on clay so far this year:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cOf course I would have liked to have come here with four titles. But there\u2019s no more pressure. In the end, I know everything that\u2019s happened to me over the last 18 months. I\u2019m not going to explain it to you now; there are things you know and others you don\u2019t on a physical level. From there, I try to look at the progress I\u2019m making positively. Barcelona was a positive advance for me. From there, both in training and generally, I\u2019ve started feeling much better. And I\u2019m on the right path.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see what may or may not happen. But in terms of energy levels and confidence in my body and my game, forgetting the stomach bug I\u2019ve had, I feel much better now than two weeks ago, before starting in Monte Carlo. This is a positive change for me. I\u2019m enjoying training again and playing every day. And this is a very important step for me. As for everything else, can I play well here or not? Well, we\u2019ll see. Can I play well in Rome or Paris? We\u2019ll see about that too. I\u2019m aware that the main thing is to get my feeling of confidence back, in my body and in my game. If I get that back, I am confident that I will have more chances to win and that the rest will have a harder time\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going to the French Open with titles on clay:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cIt\u2019s better to have won tournaments before, but I don\u2019t think that I need to have won any tournaments to win the French Open. What I need is to be healthy and playing good tennis. If that happens, I know that I will have my chances. If that doesn\u2019t happen, I won\u2019t have my chances. Whether or not I\u2019ve won before\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being a favourite:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cMore than seeing myself as a favorite, I honestly focus on this tournament as I do all of them. With a difficult match tomorrow, against a young opponent with great potential. And that is my tournament right now. Apart from that, we\u2019ll see what happens\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

How he feels coming into Madrid:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cI planned not to have fitness issues at all the tournaments I\u2019ve played in, of course. It wasn\u2019t my plan, but I have had them. When these things happen, you have to accept them and live with them. Unfortunately, I have experience with that. From here, I feel quite good considering how my season has gone in general. And it hasn\u2019t been bad, it\u2019s just that too much has happened. And I\u2019m simply waiting to stay on the path I\u2019ve been on in the last week and a half of work. If I manage to keep it up for the next two to three weeks, I think I\u2019ll get myself into a good position\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Federer and Ferrer:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cWithout being cold, this tournament is very special because it is one of the most important in the world and it\u2019s played in our country. That\u2019s the reality, no? Then, all these extra factors that can come in give it publicity and add sentimentality to what the event is in itself. I think the fact that David is saying farewell at this tournament is bad news for Spanish sport in general and for Spanish tennis in general too. But it\u2019s his decision. Of course, it will be an emotional moment and a sad one for everyone I think. Because, whatever his decision, it\u2019s also sad to change to a new era. An emotional moment without a doubt. So Federer is back? That\u2019s great news as well, particularly for the tournament, without a doubt. And for the fans too\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

His rivals seeing him as favourite:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cGuys, I\u2019m almost 33. I\u2019ve been here since I was 18 or 19. Every year is the same. I come here to do my best. Sometimes things go better, sometimes they go worse. So the other players see me as favourite? That\u2019s great news. But really the only favourite is the person who has the cup in their hands on Sunday. Anything else is just talking for the sake of talking. You guys have to write. We have to answer your questions. What do you want me to say to you? I come here to give my all. Yes, I\u2019ve had good results here and on clay throughout my career. What\u2019s happened in the past doesn\u2019t guarantee what could happen now. And my job is to try and get ready to fight for every match. And, from there, we\u2019ll see how far I can go\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

Playing against Federer on clay again:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cIt\u2019s his decision. This isn\u2019t about how I feel. It\u2019s about how the fans and the tournament feel about that. Of course, it\u2019s very good news\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zverev:\u00a0<\/b>\u201cNo two people are the same, everyone needs different processes or works in different ways. Nobody can tell Sascha what he needs. He has a great team around him and his family. He\u2019ll know how to take the advice for his education, for his tennis and for all the things that are really important for him in his life. Tennis is only part of all of our lives. There are so many things more important than tennis in this world. Losing a few matches is nothing serious. He\u2019s a great player and he\u2019ll fight for what\u2019s important\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal appeared in the Mutua Madrid Open press conference room on Tuesday before his campaign in the Caja M\u00e1gica gets underway. The world number 2, a five-time champion of the tournament, dispelled any doubts about his fitness and also touched on the following subjects: How he is feeling:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s been a complicated week, but a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[15,688,117,711],"class_list":["post-76577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mutua-news","tag-caja-magica-en","tag-mutua-madrid-open-2019-en","tag-rafael-nadal-en","tag-tierra-batida-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desarrollo.mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}