Convaincant à Madrid où il a fallu un excellent Jiri Lehecka pour le sortir du tournoi, Rafael Nadal s'avançait avec confiance au Masters 1000 de Rome pour confirmer. L'aventure a finalement été de courte durée. En difficulté au premier tour contre Zizou Bergs, Rafa a été puni ce samedi par le Polonais Hubert Hurkacz (n°7), son premier adversaire membre du Top 10 depuis le Masters 2022. Impuissant, Nadal a été torpillé 6-1, 6-3. Incapable de renvoyer les missiles d'Hurkacz au service, le Majorquin n'a jamais trouvé de solution non plus pour prendre les échanges à son compte. Une sacrée démonstration de force du Polonais, qui montre surtout les limites de Rafa à l'heure actuelle. Le Taureau de Manacor va désormais se tourner vers Roland-Garros, avec cinq victoires au compteur, la plus belle contre Alex De Minaur. "Roland-Garros ? Je ne veux pas encore prendre de décision, a expliqué Nadal en conférence de presse. Il y a deux voies possibles. Je pense que je ne suis pas prêt à participer à Roland Garros à cause de ce que j'ai fait aujourd'hui. Il reste deux semaines, nous allons tout faire pour changer la donne. Même si c’est difficile pour moi, frustrant, je me sens plus proche d’essayer. Je suis coincé, mais je vais essayer autant que possible ces deux semaines."
Vidéo : Internazionali BNL d'Italia / @InteBNLdItalia
Vidéo : Internazionali BNL d'Italia / @InteBNLdItalia
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SportTranscription
00:00 Do you think you'll be playing here for the last time?
00:03 I don't know if it's going to be the last time that I'm going to play here or not.
00:07 Of course, there's much more chances that today is the last one.
00:15 But of course, I'm not a guy that makes decisions in hot moments, in tough moments.
00:27 I just try to let it be a little bit of time and then that's it.
00:32 You can see today on the court how difficult it is.
00:35 That's the answer.
00:38 But that's an option that can happen today.
00:46 And you need to accept that there are now two ways.
00:56 Probably one is to say, "OK, I'm not ready, I'm not playing enough well."
01:04 And then it's the moment to take a decision in terms of not playing Roland-Garros.
01:16 Another is to accept how I am today and work the proper way to try to be in a different way in two weeks.
01:31 So the decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind today.
01:43 But if I have to say what's my feeling and how, if in my mind it's closer one way or the other way,
01:56 I'm going to say being in Roland-Garros and trying my best.
02:01 Because physically I have some issues, but not probably yet enough to say not playing in the most important event of my tennis career.
02:21 So let's see what's going on, how I feel mentally tomorrow, after tomorrow, until one week.
02:31 And if I feel ready, I'm going to try to be there and fight for the things I have been fighting for the last 15 years,
02:41 if now seems impossible.
02:45 In Madrid you mentioned about playing doubles with Alcaraz at the Olympic Games.
02:51 Have you got any tournament in mind that you'll be playing in preparation for the Games with him?
02:56 Can you say again, sorry?
02:58 Sure. In Madrid you mentioned about playing doubles with Alcaraz at the Olympic Games.
03:03 Do you have any tournament in mind that you'll be competing in with him?
03:08 Looks difficult, I don't know yet. I mean, he got injured in Madrid.
03:18 I was not with enough good physical conditions to play before.
03:31 And looks difficult because not remaining a lot of tournaments that we can play together before Olympics.
03:40 Remain only Roland-Garros and that will not be the case.
03:45 And I don't know later. Looks difficult, but let's see.
03:50 Hi Rafa, sorry I have to ask you because we were expecting the ceremony on the court.
03:57 Also because for Italian crowd probably is the last occasion to see you as you said.
04:02 So I would like just to ask you about the ceremony on the court that were expected for you.
04:10 I don't know about that. I never said that's going to be my last tournament here.
04:16 I said in Madrid because that was that case.
04:22 Here I am not 100% sure. It was probably 98%, but I will not say 100% when it's not 100%.
04:33 So different feeling here than Madrid. Different story, different kind of moment for me.
04:44 I don't know. I didn't expect any ceremony honestly.
04:50 If I retire, I think hopefully they are going to have time if they want to do something in the next few years.
04:58 Yes.
04:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]