Rafael Nadal: ‘I’m not happy to be in the quarter with Djokovic. My wrist? I felt something in Madrid’

Last Saturday, in Madrid, Rafael Nadal lost his first match on clay this season after having won 13 matches in a row. After his loss in the Madrid semi-final to Andy Murray, Rafa did not practice on Sunday. Speaking about this decision, he said, ‘I rested for one day and I practiced one hour and a little bit more yesterday, and today again the same. I played a lot of matches, so it is not the moment to practice that much. Just keep working. But, you know, the transition from Madrid to here is not that easy because it’s different conditions. So you need to adapt a little bit, and it’s always dangerous the beginning. Wednesday’s match against a very tough opponent like Kohlschreiber will be a very tough match.’

Rafa then praised the Rome Open event and said, ‘I think for everybody, Rome is special. If Rome is not a special place for the players, I don’t know which place can be special. It’s one of the most historic and one of the most important tournaments in our tour. I think everybody has a special feeling here. For me, especially because I have a lot of successes in the past.’ Rafa has a tough draw in Rome, being drawn in the same quarter as Novak Djokovic. ‘For sure I’m not happy,’  he said jokingly. He then continued, ‘But the real thing is I’m not going to play against Novak tomorrow. I’m going to play against Kohlschreiber. He’s playing great. He won in Munich a couple of weeks ago and reached the semi-finals in Barcelona too. He’s playing well and he’s a very good player on clay. I am worried about that now.’ …

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