INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 12, 2022

Rafael Nadal

Press Conference

D. SHAPOVALOV/R. Nadal

1-6, 7-5, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Rafa, please.

Q. It looks it was very difficult at the end of the game. Did you feel something bad?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, I have my foot. That's all. I had my foot again with a lot of pain, and that's it.

Q. I wanted to know whether you had any thoughts about the French Open, looking like you're injured here?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, I am not injured. I am a player living with an injury. That's it. No, no, is nothing new. It's something that is there.

Unfortunately my day-by-day is difficult, honestly. Even like this, I am trying hard. Of course, it's difficult for me to accept the situation sometimes, no? Yeah, can be frustrating that a lot of days I can't practice the proper way. Then today at half the second set starts the thing, then wasn't playable for me.

Well done for Denis. Sorry, I came straight away. I don't want to take away any great from Denis. He deserve probably they way that he lost his match with me in Australia this year, and last year here. Today is for him. Well done for him, that's it.

Q. It comes random or from some movement?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, it's not comes. Is there all the time.

Q. Sometimes more?

RAFAEL NADAL: Sometimes more, sometimes less. Today was crazy. That's it.

I don't know. I would love to tell you another stuff, talk about tennis and talk about another thing. But today it's what there is. What can happen in the next couple of days, I don't know. What can happen in one week, I really don't know now.

Today, as you can imagine, even if I have a lot of experience on things, today is tough for me, no? I started the season great, then happened the rib.

Since I came back, the foot have been tough, being honest, no? It's tough for me to be able to practice the proper way days in a row. So then you need to move well to compete at the highest level, something that I am not able to practice. Then things becomes much more difficult.

Negative thing and toughest thing for me today is honestly I start to feel myself play much better. I started the match playing much better. My practice was much better, the warmup, than the other day.

Yeah, I feel sad about that, that I started to feel again a lot of positive things. But then when these kind of stuff happens, the rest of the things, the rest of the positive things disappears, no?

Yeah, it's the time to accept the situation and fight. That's it. Honestly, I can't tell you anything more now. It's not about that I can come back and can do treatment, that's the negative part of this thing. I have to come back.

I don't know if rest, I don't know if maybe practice. But I still a goal in one week and a couple of days. I going to keep dreaming about that goal.

Q. What do you think you'll be able to do between now and the French Open to prepare your best?

RAFAEL NADAL: First thing that I need to do is to don't have pain to practice, that's it. And the negative thing is today it's not possible to play for me. But maybe in two days things are better, that's the thing that I have on my foot.

It's true that during the French Open, Roland Garros, I going to have my doctor there with me. That sometime helps because you can do things.

But I don't know. I am just sad obviously today. As everybody knows, is a tournament that I like a lot. Be out is something that I don't like, no?

In the positive days and in the negative days, you need to stay and to value all the things that happened to me in a positive way. Then days like today, just accept and try to keep going even if sometimes it's not easy for me.