Rafael Nadalwas very self-critical after being defeated by the British Cameron Norrie In his season premiere, he stressed that the time to retire has not yet arrived and he was confident that as he accumulates more minutes on the court, his performance will rise.
The number two in the world was upset by the insistence on the questions surrounding his goodbye: “I don’t have to continue playing for any specific reason and I continue because of the passion I feel for this sport. When I don’t have passion, I will leave it. It seems that they are very interested in retirement. I am here to play tennis and the time for me to retire has not come yet.”
On the defeat against the British, whom he had beaten on the four occasions they had played, the twenty-two Grand Slam winner assumed that he still has room for improvement. “I can do things much better, although this game hasn’t been a disaster either. I have to be more solid, make fewer mistakes and improve my physique. I lacked speed but as I play games I’ll improve,” he confided.
Nadal He hopes that the arrival of victories will give him momentum. “I know that when I win a game things will improve. I will play more relaxed. You have to learn from the negative things but I think I have done things well. I have competed until the end with a great player who had more rhythm than me. I have enough time to improve in these two weeks”.
On his return to competition, the Spaniard could not avoid defeat against Norrie (3-6, 6-3 and 6-4) who took advantage of the lack of minutes on the court of the Balearic Islands to turn the score around and thwart the staging of Spain in the new United Cup. The start of the season of the number two in the world ran into a more rounded opponent, with more minutes on the court at the Ken Rosewall Arena where he had already played and won, on the first day of this Group D, against Australia and against Alex de Miñaur.
