{"id":77987,"date":"2022-05-10T14:34:47","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T14:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=77987"},"modified":"2022-05-10T14:34:47","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T14:34:47","slug":"italian-open-rafael-nadal-likens-his-body-to-an-old-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=77987","title":{"rendered":"Italian Open: Rafael Nadal likens his body to \u2018an old machine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Sports Desk:<\/strong> At 35 and after nearly two decades at or near the top of tennis, Rafael Nadal likens his body to \u201can old machine.\u201d A machine that was idle for more than a month recently when the 21-time Grand Slam champion was recovering from a rib stress fracture.<\/p>\n

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After he was injured during a semifinal win over Carlos Alcaraz at Indian Wells in March, Nadal returned to action at the Madrid Open last week, when he was beaten by the 19-year-old Spaniard in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Nadal won his opening 20 matches of the year, which included the Australian Open title, but he said at the Italian Open on Monday that his stretch of good form means nothing now.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body is like an old machine. To put this machine on again it takes some time,\u201d Nadal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the same when you (are) 19 than when you have almost 36, with all the issues that I went through in my tennis career.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to build again the confidence on your body, on your movements, then you going to start feeling again comfortable with your tennis. It\u2019s more about being confident with my movements, recover the speed, recover the way that I have to play on clay.\u201d Nadal, who turns 36 on June 3, is playing his final warmup in Rome this week before attempting to add to his record total of 13 French Open titles.<\/p>\n

The tournament at Roland Garros starts in less than two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need some time, but maybe this week can be a positive week, maybe not. Who knows?\u201d Nadal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that is sure, I\u2019m going to keep trying and I\u2019m going to keep building confidence to try to be ready for next week, for in two weeks.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my goal unfortunately this year, because I didn\u2019t have another chance to approach this clay-court season with all the things that I went through.\u201d Nadal, who has won the Italian Open a record 10 times, will open at the Foro Italico against either big-serving American John Isner or Argentine qualifier Francisco Cerundolo, who reached the semifinals of the Miami Open.<\/p>\n

SWIATEK\u2019S STREAK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek is back on tour looking to extend her 23-match winning streak and defend her Rome title.<\/p>\n

Swiatek sat out last week\u2019s Madrid Open because of a sore arm after winning four consecutive titles.<\/p>\n

She said she spent \u201cfive or six days\u201d without picking up her racket.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s pretty good to have (an) opportunity to do something like that in between tournaments, in the middle of the season,\u201d Swiatek said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more fresh. Mentally and physically, I had time to rest.\u201d Swiatek then trained for five days at Rafael Nadal\u2019s academy in Mallorca, Spain, which gave her an opportunity to visit the Nadal museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was inspiring,\u201d Swiatek said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing numbers on Wikipedia is one thing, but seeing all the trophies, how consistent he was sometimes in some tournaments, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, routed Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in last year\u2019s Rome final. She\u2019ll open against either one of two Americans: Shelby Rogers or Alison Riske.<\/p>\n

DJOKOVIC\u2019S SECOND HOME<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five-time Italian Open champion Novak Djokovic calls Rome his \u201csecond home.\u201d \u201cIn terms of support that I\u2019ve been getting, in terms of the sensation I have every time I come back here. I think speaking a little bit of Italian helps connect with people,\u201d the top-ranked Serb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cItalian mentality is close to Serbian mentality in terms of passion, emotions. So it\u2019s always a joy for me to come back.\u201d Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year\u2019s Rome final, said his game is coming back after missing a large portion of the season because of his refusal to get vaccinated against the\u00a0coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Djokovic lost to Alcaraz in a third-set tiebreaker in the Madrid semifinals on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s closer to desired level every week,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports Desk: At 35 and after nearly two decades at or near the top of tennis, Rafael Nadal likens his body to \u201can old machine.\u201d A machine that was idle for more than a month recently when the 21-time Grand Slam champion was recovering from a rib stress fracture. After he was injured during a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n