In the Indian Wells Masters quarterfinals, Nadal won 18 consecutive games at the start of the season after two steals, 7-6 (3)/7-6 (5) to beat the U.S. cannon Opelka. The quarter-finals will be against "old enemy" Kyrgios, who received a retirement gift from Sina.
Left foot injury recurrence!
Despite an 18-game winning streak from the start of the season, Nadal's movement was clearly slowed by his left foot in the match against Opelka. At the post-match press conference, Nadal also admitted this: "Today's left foot is so-so, sometimes in better condition, but in the second set it is bad, you can feel the left foot is obviously uncomfortable. But I was able to persevere, running until the end. ”
Take a look at nadal's match trajectory this year: from January 3 to January 9, Melbourne 3 matches, including the first round of bye, the third round received the withdrawal ceremony; from January 17 to January 30, the Australian Open 7 matches, including 2 four-set battles, 2 five-set battles, the final is a 5-hour battle; from February 21 to February 27, Acapulco station 5 matches, without losing all of the set; March 7 -17, Indian Wells Masters 3 matches, including the first round of bye, The second round was won in three sets.
The 36-year-old Nadal has played 18 games, but fortunately the team was wise enough to withdraw from the Miami Masters in time.
From this point of view, it is not necessarily a good thing to win all the time, because if the body does not rest, the injury risk will become greater.
Red clay healing? Last year was full attendance on clay, and injuries and illnesses lost the French Open
"I'm excited to continue playing here, the left foot condition was more serious today than it was in the previous days. My team knows that this can happen and all we can do is keep a positive attitude and try to play as well as we can. Because IW is the last hard-court game, when the clay season starts, it may be good for me. ”
It has always been said that clay is a place where Nadal heals his wounds, and playing on clay can make Nadal more and more powerful. Therefore, we see that as long as conditions permit, Nadal will insist on full attendance on clay.
However, don't forget that last year, in full attendance, Nadal won the Barcelona Open and the Rome Masters twice, but in the French Open semi-finals, he lost to Djokovic with a trapped injury and let Djokovic open the double slam first.
Nadal, who never gives up, still yearns for the championship
"I need to put in 100% effort to achieve the best possible results at the IW." Nadal showed a desire to win the game, "Hopefully my left foot can hold up, I don't think too much about the left foot, only my own performance and the next round of opponents are in my mind. If anything really happens on the left foot, we need to accept reality. ”
Starting with the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters, we didn't insist on Nadal winning, but hoped that his left foot injury would not be repeated, and at least he would be able to get through the French Open at the end of May.