Nadal: ‘I thought I lost, I’m not very confident’

Rafa Nadal was just one game away from being knocked out by 21-year-old American Sebastian Korda in his Indian Wells premiere this year.

In fact, as the 35-year-old Spaniard said when the score was 5-2, he felt it was all over but he didn’t stop trying to the end, achieving an amazing upset while claiming his 16th place at the same time .Consecutive win in 2022.

“It’s very difficult to come back from 5-2 with 2 breaks,” he said at the press conference. “I felt like it was all over. Then I thought I had lost. I had the same feeling as at the Australian Open final.”

“But that didn’t mean I would stop trying. “Even though I thought I was going to lose the game, even though I thought I was down 5-2 and played poorly, I wanted to fight in the end.”

“From there I played a little better, he made some mistakes that I reduced to 5-3 and then to 5-4. Nobody knows what can happen there. 5-2 and 2 breaks back is one thing Difficult and unfamiliar situation. At 5-4 but if you can make some good shots you put the pressure on your opponent and think you can do it.”

Nadal also spoke about the mentality with which he managed the difficult situation that Korda presented to him in the 3rd set.

“If people think I think I can shoot games all the time, I can tell you that’s not true. I’m not that kind of player. I don’t have the super confidence to say, ok, I’ll go after come back 5-2 no. But in my mind I always say that I don’t want to give up. I’ll keep trying even though I know it’s impossible. I’ll always try to make it a little harder for the opponent.

The normal thing about this type of game is that out of the 100 games you find in this situation, you will lose 90. But if you give up, you will lose all 100. If you keep trying and sticking with it, you win 10% of the cases”.

In the next round, Nadal meets Briton and world No. 29 Daniel Evans, whom he has beaten both times.

SOURCE: Tennis24