Stellar Nadal at Roland Garros He beats Djokovic and flies to the semifinals

Tennis, victory after 4 hours. And she reveals: “With this foot it will be hard”

the character

ROMA

The enthusiasm for the victory, the love for “his” Roland Garros, the desire to play a new final, but also the fears for a future that, age aside, is at the mercy of chronic pain in the left foot that could force him to surrender. After four hours of fighting on the field with the eternal rival Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, he spoke about all this in the press conference held in the middle of the night, when the darkness brought out the concern for a physical problem that “for now has no solution. “. The Majorcan champion will turn 36 just tomorrow, when he will face Alexander Zverev in the semifinals and for now his horizon stops at that match, even if the mere thought of being there, of having managed to reach her, gives him a unique charge. The continuous pain in his left foot, which has plagued him for years, has stopped or slowed him several times recently, the last one in Rome in the defeat with Shapovalov, and it becomes increasingly difficult to manage. “At the Foro Italico I did not have my doctor – Nadal underlined -. Here his presence helps me. I’m doing everything I can to try to play this tournament in the best conditions, but I don’t know what can happen next, honestly. I’m old enough not to hide or distort reality – if I can’t find an improvement or a small solution, it will become super hard for me. The last three and a half months have not been easy for me, that’s the only thing I can say. I’m enjoying every day I have the chance to be here, without thinking much about what might happen in the future ». The victory over the eternal opponent is still special, despite all the worries, and perhaps having the Serbian number 1 in the world in front of him was enough to overcome all suffering. But the rivalry, he explained, is almost gone, at least on the front of “who won what”, including the third tenor, Roger Federer: «For me it doesn’t really matter. We did things that had never happened before and therefore it doesn’t matter who will finish with the most Grand Slams or who is the best in history, because the level of the three of us is very similar ». Djokovic, for his part, admitted the superiority of the Majorcan, stressing that he had not noticed any physical problems, “but I am not surprised – he said – because it is not the first time that he plays at 100% a few days after having barely left the field on his legs ». Speaking of the lower limbs, not a few of the more than 15 thousand spectators who attended the match until 1 and 15 in the morning had to start them, because by that time the subway and bus service had already finished. The consequence has been the massive use of taxis and Ubers, with the result of driving up prices and leaving many people on foot in the middle of the night. –

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