In Madrid, Nadal reassures himself (on serve): "The most significant improvement in my game is my serve"

At the Caja Magica, Rafael Nadal is the player all eyes turn to. Back from Barcelona, the Spaniard is stepping up his game in Madrid. After a logical victory in the first round (over Darwin Blanch, 6-1, 6-0), Rafa took his revenge on the man who beat him in Barcelona: Alex De Minaur, ranked 11th in the world (7-6, 6-3).

As he faces Pedro Cachin (91st in the world) for a place in the last 16, the king of clay confided in a press conference. Long hampered by abdominal pain (preventing him from serving properly), he seems more confident on this point.

Indeed, according to him, the shot on which he has made the most progress since his return is the serve: "This week, the most significant improvement in my game is the serve. I have no limits. I can't play the fool because I haven't been able to serve for many months, so I can't train to do 100 serves a day. Musculature has to adapt gradually to loads, but today (against De Minaur, Saturday) I was able to serve and the other day (against Blanch, Thursday) too. At least I'm no longer afraid of this aspect of my game."