Rafael Nadal: "I'm a player living with an injury, nothing new"

| by Kadir Macar

Rafael Nadal appeared to be in control of his third-round encounter against Denis Shapovalov, but the Canadian advanced to the quarterfinals after a late match collapse.

Last year in Rome, these two had a tremendous battle, and while Nadal was able to fight back to win, this time it was Shapovalov who triumphed. In the first set, Nadal was dominant, winning 6-1 as Shapovalov struggled to keep the ball in play. Shapovalov began hitting more than missing in the second set, and Nadal enabled him to do so.

The Spaniard was seen hobbling in the last set, which Shapovalov won 6-2, and when asked what the problem was after the match, Nadal said:

“I am a player living with an injury; it is nothing new. It's something that is there. I felt a lot of pain in my foot. I am not injured but it is not easy to live with this situation. It's frustrating. Tonight in the middle of the second set I started to suffer."

Despite his foot issue flaring up again, Nadal praised Shapovalov as well:

"But I have to say good from Shapovalov as well"

"I felt a lot of pain in my foot" - Nadal on collapse in defeat to Shapovalov in Rome
"I felt a lot of pain in my foot" - Nadal on collapse in defeat to Shapovalov in Rome

Asked about the foot again, Nadal was unsure about it saying:

"How will I be in a week? I don't know. Unfortunately my day-by-day is difficult, honestly… it’s difficult for me to accept the situation sometimes. Today at half the second set, it starts and then it wasn't playable for me… I don't want to take away anything from Denis… Today is for him. Well done for him."

“Since I came back, the foot has been tough. It's tough for me to be able to practise the proper way days in a row. So then you need to move well to compete at the highest level, something that I am not able to practise. The toughest thing for me today is honestly I start to feel myself play much better. I started the match playing much better. My practice was much better, the warmup, than the other day.”

Denis Shapovalov stuns Rafael Nadal in Rome
Denis Shapovalov stuns Rafael Nadal in Rome

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