Soundly beaten by Hurkacz, Nadal admits his disappointment: "I felt more ready than I showed"
Rafael Nadal is no longer the indomitable monster he once was. He'll have to get used to it. The Spaniard's level of play has been plugged into an alternating current, and he offers far fewer guarantees this year. After a good tournament in Madrid, 'Rafa' seems to be making progress in training, but for the time being is unable to reproduce this kind of performance in matches.
On Saturday, he was largely dominated by a very good Hubert Hurkacz (6-1, 6-3). This type of result is frightening. Yet, questioned in the press conference, the Majorcan was disappointed but not alarmed: "It was difficult, obviously. I started the match well. In the first two games, almost half an hour, I had opportunities and I played pretty well. After that, I kind of lost the way to push him back, the way to cause damage in his game. The score of the first set is a bit misleading, I think. Then, he was much better than me in the second. [...] He served well. It was difficult for me to return and push him to the fault. You have to accept that. It was a difficult day for me in every respect, because I felt more ready than I showed. It's a bad feeling not to be able to show on the pitch how I feel in terms of my game. It makes me doubt, in a way. As I said at the start of the tournament, I'm more unpredictable today. You have to accept that. Too many doubts. Too many questions in all directions, on different points of the game. That's it." (Interview at the press conference).
Asked about his refusal to be honoured at the Rome tournament, Nadal offered a rather surprising explanation. I never said it would be my last tournament here. I said it in Madrid because it was. Here, I'm not 100% sure. It's probably 98%... It's a different feeling here compared to Madrid, a different story. I wasn't expecting any ceremony, honestly."
Rome 
