At the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid, Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal is in the round of 16 after a three-hour fight against Argentine clay court specialist Pedro Cachin.
The 37-year-old was happy about the victory afterwards, but he didn’t expect to reach the round of 16.
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“It was another special victory,” said the Spaniard. “I didn’t play well in the second set. Some moments were good, some were not. But I found a way to move forward,” he analyzed.
Now Lehecka is waiting
“Three weeks ago I lost to every child at my academy. Now I’m competing against players at ATP level again and winning games,” said Nadal about reaching the round of 16, which was a surprise for him.
He is now contesting this against the Czech Jiri Lehecka, against whom Nadal sees himself as an outsider: “Especially after what happened today,” said the 37-year-old.
“We will see”
The extent to which Nadal can keep up with Lehecka will depend primarily on the physical condition of the multiple Grand Slam winner.
“At the moment I don’t think the game has caused any damage to my body. We’ll see how I wake up tomorrow,” Nadal said.
The round of 16 match will be played on Center Court as the last game of the day – for the first time in Nadal’s career.
“After everything that happened today, I agreed with the decision. Playing at night gives me more hours to sleep and regenerate,” he added.
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