ROME – Fifteen days before playing what will probably be his last French Open, Rafael Nadal is so dissatisfied with his level of tennis that he is still debating whether or not to go to Roland Garros.
Nadal’s surgically repaired hip and 37-year-old legs did not provide him with the wherewithal to be competitive enough on Saturday, when ninth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz defeated the 22-time Grand Slam champion on the Spaniard’s beloved clay 6-1 , 6-3 victory in the third round of the Italian Open.
It was Nadal’s first match against a top 10 player in a year and a half and he couldn’t have been more disappointed.
“Tough day for me in every way because I felt more ready than I showed,” said Nadal. “I’m a little more unpredictable today, not playing enough in the last two years. Many doubts.”
In terms of games won – just four – it was Nadal’s most lopsided defeat on clay in 21 years, since he also won just four games against Gaston Gaudio in Hamburg in 2003, when he was just 16.
Now Nadal will need to delve deeper into the practice court if he is to be competitive one last time at the French Open, where he is a record 14-time champion. Roland Garros starts on May 26th.
Nadal said he had two options for Paris.
“One is to say, ‘OK, I’m not ready, I’m not playing well enough,’” Nadal said. “Another thing is to accept how I am today and work in the appropriate way to try to be in a different way in two weeks.
“The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my head today. But if I have to say what I feel and if my mind is closer one way or another, I will say to be at Roland Garros and do my best,” Nadal added. “Physically I have some problems, but probably not yet. enough to say that I didn’t play the most important event of my tennis career.”
Nadal is still regaining fitness after missing almost all of 2023 with a hip injury that required surgery.
“Let’s see what’s happening, how I feel mentally tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and in a week,” Nadal said. “If I feel ready, I will try to be there and fight for the things I have been fighting for the last 15 years if it now seems impossible.”
Against the great server Hurkacz, he sometimes seemed slow and lacked the lucidity to finish points.
Twice in the first set, Nadal missed drop shot attempts to give Hurkacz breaks of serve.
Then, early in the second set, Nadal lacked power on a backhand volley, allowing Hurkacz to respond with a forehand down the line that hit the net and fell for another counter.
In exchanges, Nadal sat hunched over, sweat dripping from his belt and thinking deeply about solutions he couldn’t find.
Nadal has indicated this will be his last season on the tour and fans inside the Campo Centrale tried to encourage the 10-time Rome champion with chants of “Ole Ole Ole, Ra-fa, Ra-fa”.
Nadal has not faced a top-10 player since beating No. 4 Casper Ruud in the 2022 ATP Finals.
Nadal did not convert any of his seven break points and committed twice as many unforced errors as Hurkacz – 20 to 10.
Hurkacz served nine aces to Nadal’s one.
After the match, Nadal refused to participate in the celebration of his career prepared by local organizers.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Novak Djokovic said he was “fine” after accidentally being hit on the head by a water bottle while signing autographs following his maiden victory on Friday.
But Djokovic took no further chances when he showed up at the Foro Italico for training on Saturday, donning a bicycle helmet when he met fans again.
In the women’s tournament, top-ranked Iga Swiatek beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-4, for her eighth consecutive victory.
Swiatek trailed 4-1 in the second set but then won five games in a row after saving four break points to stay at 2-4.
“I needed to focus,” Swiatek said. “I know I can play good tennis because I did that in the first set. So I just wanted to get back to being solid and really working for the points because she’s really changing the momentum, so it’s not easy to play against her.”
After winning the Madrid Open last week, Swiatek is trying to become the first woman to win the “dirty double” since Serena Williams in 2013. She is already a two-time Rome champion.
Nadal was Swiatek’s role model.
“He’s a huge inspiration,” Swiatek said. “He’s basically the only idol I’ve ever had in my life. So it’s great that he’s back playing tennis.”
Hurkacz will next face 25th-ranked Tomas Etcheverry, who eliminated Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-3, 7-5.
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AP Tennis:
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