Reef Nadal staged another spectacular comeback on Saturday to beat the young American Sebastian Korda at its premiere at Masters 1000 from Indian Wells. The Spaniard overcame a 5-2 deficit in the final set to prevail with partials of 6-2, 1-6 and 7-6 (7/3) in two and a half hours of play.
The tennis player with the most titles Grand Slam in all history remains undefeated after 16 games at the start of the season, with a memorable victory in the Australian Open. “Today I have been very lucky to pass, honestly”, acknowledged the experienced athlete after the end of the match. “He got a little more nervous and made some mistakes,” he noted. “It is the same for everyone. If someone says they don’t get nervous to win a match, they’re either lying or they don’t care about this sport.”
At a press conference, Nadal He was promptly asked about what goes through his head when, in games like Saturday’s, he finds himself at a 5-2 disadvantage and surprised with his answer. “What I can tell you is that if people think I’m a believer all the time that I’m going to come back, it’s not true,” said the former number 1 in the ATP ranking.
To the astonishment of the journalists who were present, the 35-year-old Spaniard explained that many times he does not think he can reverse a match, but he bets on continuing to fight at least so that his opponent’s victory is not so easy. “In my mind I think it’s very difficult and I don’t want to stop trying. I know that sometimes it is impossible. We are going to try that the rival does not win. Not helping him win, I’m just trying to go on and make things a little harder for him.”.
The number 4 in the world is an expert in comebacks like the one he achieved against the young Korda and his explanation of his method to achieve such feats caused surprise. “The normal thing in this type of match is that out of 100 you lose 90, but if you don’t try, you’re going to lose 100″Held.
With 21 Grand Slam titles to his credit, beating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in that race, Nadal was greeted with a standing ovation by the nearly 16,000 fans in Indian Wells, the second largest tennis court in the world. This same Saturday, he gave up competing in the Miami Masters 1000, which starts on March 21, within his strategy of physically dosing himself this year. “I can’t stretch my schedule too much, everyone knows that my body is as it is, especially my foot (…) If I make extra efforts it may be the end for me”, he explained.
Indian Wellsprimer Masters 1000 of the season, can bring him a possible crossover in the semifinals against the Russian Daniel Medvedevthe new world number one, whom he beat in Australia after coming back from two sets down. But first, his rival in the third round will be the British Daniel Evansnumber 29 in the ATP, who on Saturday beat the Argentine Federico Coria by 6-2 and 6-0.
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