US OPEN

September 2, 2022

Rafael Nadal

Press Conference

R. NADAL/F. Fognini

2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How do you feel?

RAFAEL NADAL: Little bit pain, honestly, but good. Happy after a terrible start. I don't understand yet how I started that bad because the feeling before the match was good.

But, yeah, these kind of things sometimes happen so need to accept and keep going. That's what I did. Lucky that Fabio make some mistakes and I was able to start putting some balls in and finish the match playing obviously better, much better.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. From our point of view, it seemed kind of scary what happened with the racquet. Couldn't tell if you were feeling okay. Was it as much a shock to you as anything? You used the word 'dizzy' on court. Did you worry maybe you had a concussion? Did you feel a headache?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, we don't need to create a story. Was just a strong hit. At the beginning I thought I breaked the nose because it was a shock at the beginning. Was very painful.

I lost little bit the - I don't know how to say in English - but a little bit the feeling of my head. It's about being a little bit out of the world.

I don't know, seems like is not breaked. I am not sure yet. I don't know. I think it's getting bigger and bigger.

No, that's just a shock some way I deserved to play that bad for a while (laughter). No, is joking.

Things that happen sometimes, yeah.

Q. You qualified for the ATP Finals for the 17th time. I'm wondering how happy you are to do that again.

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I know I will be there since a while because winning two Grand Slams, it's difficult to not be there.

But, yeah, good news of course. One more year at the age of 36. Finish the year probably, if nothing goes wrong, in the top five. Yeah, it's better than what we expected when we started the year and we didn't know much about how the things going to go, no?

So yeah, happy. But things are keep going here. Happy to stay alive after tonight. Now is the moment to play better. I hope to be ready to make that happen.

I am practicing much, much better than what I am playing. That's a positive thing. Then I need to make that happen on the matches. It's something that is not easy. But I'm making a step forward.

I think at the end of the match today I played better than in the first round without a doubt, too. It's an improvement. Two matches already. Two victories. That helps. Now another opportunity against Richard.

Q. There's nobody better at playing through pain than you. Do you concentrate on the injury, try to understand it, or try to ignore it?

RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. Is depending on the injury that you have, depending on how much limitations you have.

Well, I was not able to be very focus when I come back from that. I was little bit in shock. I know that when I come back on court I going to be in trouble for a while. But I needed to save that serve. I was lucky was 15-40. But I have a couple of good serves and a good passing shot with the backhand. I won the game.

Tennis is a lot about moments. The most important thing in this game is when you are playing bad or when the opponent is playing too good, don't be too far on the score. When you are playing very well, create an advantage, no?

It's about making the things happens in the right moments. Today I was not doing that for a while. Then I think I started to compete. That's what I was looking for for a set and a half, start to compete. I was not competing, no? Something unusual of me.

But positive thing, I stayed there. I was positive. Even if the disaster was huge, I was not too frustrated. Just accepting the situation, stay humble enough that don't consider myself too good to not accept a lot of mistakes.