Rafael Nadal is the undisputed King of Clay, and whenever he steps in on the dirt, he is always expected to win.
Nadal in Monte Carlo
The Spanish legend won the title in Monte Carlo 11 times, and he was widely expected to triumph again in Monaco especially after his first 2 matches in the Principality where he defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1 6-1 and Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-1. Things started to get awkward for Nadal in the quarters after he defeated Guido Pella 7-6 (1) 6-3 after recovering from a 1-5 deficit in the opening set.
Eventually, Nadal had to surrender to a magnificent Fabio Fognini in the semifinal tat defeated Rafa 6-4 6-2.
It will be difficult to practice. NADAL
After the match against the Italian, Rafa admitted
“It will be hard to return to the practice court. I lost an opportunity in a very important event for me. I’m sad about that.”
There was little chance for me to start the clay-court season in a perfect way. It was a bad day, the kind of day where the feeling is not there at all. It’s difficult to find positive ways.
I was lucky to win two games [in the second set] to avoid an even worse score. I’m thinking about how bad I played, understand the things. Coming back from injuries, winning and winning and winning is not easy.
It’s been a year and a half of not having the chance to play tournaments in a row [because of injuries].”
A few weeks ago uncle Toni commented that Nadal is an injured person that plays tennis. He had to apologize after saying that, but probably he was right.
