Back to the Internazionali d’Italia, Masters 1000 he won ten times, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who on his debut knocks out the American John Isner with a clear 6-3 6-1 and starts to challenge the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who last year he came close to eliminating the Iberian champion.
Returning to Madrid last week after a month and a half of hiatus and returning from a defeat in the generational clash with compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, Nadal is looking for a relaunch in Rome in view of giving his best to Roland Garros. The goal is to remain among the top four in the world, in order to get to the Parisian tournament avoiding the top three seeded players, Djokovic, Medvedev and Zverev, at least until the semifinal. To succeed, the Spaniard will have to play a good tournament in Rome, in order to stay ahead of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the ranking.
The world number five in today’s match gave his best in the second set, leaving no chance for the American, who was the only tennis player (besides Novak Djokovic) to have led him to the fifth set at Roland Garros. «In today’s match I felt better – explains Nadal – but it wasn’t particularly demanding from a physical and mental point of view. I have to hurry to find the feeling with the game. I need to recover all that I have lost while standing still ».
The spotlight is on the long-distance confrontation with compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, the new enfant prodige of world tennis. «They keep asking me if Alcaraz is stronger than me at the same age (19 years ed) and if he can win more Grand Slams than me. I don’t know, I don’t remember how I was at his age. But it would be better, especially for him, to stop with this comparison. If he wins 25 Grand Slams, I will be happy for him and for our country. But now let’s let him enjoy his personal career. “