Rafael Nadal has just won his 1st title of the season, the 9th in Rome and the 81st of his immense career (see list).
Even if the Spaniard was still ranked no.2, his frustration was mounting as he wasn’t able to win a tournament until this week in 2019. Also, it was uncharacteristic for the King of Clay to “fail” to conquer at least 1 title in the same year in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid.
Eventually, the Spanish legend found is way in Rome where he dropped just 1 set after serving 4 bagels (6-0) on the way to Jeremy Chardy (6-0 6-1), Nikoloz Basilashvili (6-1 6-0), Fernando Verdasco (6-4 6-0) and to his great rival in the final (Novak Djokovic) 6-0 4-6 6-1.
Nadal’s mentality vs. adversities and injuries
During the press conference following the final, Rafa explained who he managed to get back on track saying things that should be taught in every tennis (and not tennis related) school.
The world no.1 commented:
“You work mentally when you go on the court every day. You don’t complain when you play bad, when you have problems, when you have pains. You put the right attitude, the right face.
You are not negative about all the issues that happened if I am playing bad if I have physical problems. You go on court every day with the passion to keep practicing. That’s the mental work, no?
That’s something that I did during all my career, not being frustrating when things are not going well, not being too negative That’s why I was able to always have the chance to be back
Here we are. Important title, important moment. Now is the moment to keep going.”
Show this to your kids!
To show in every tennis school. pic.twitter.com/pXaslcLR10
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) May 20, 2019
