After Rafa Nadal’s morning training session with a large audience on court 7 at Roland Garroswhich did not reach the hour duration, his head coach, Carlos Moyátalks on the terrace of the Press Center with the Spanish media, in advance of the final that the Balearic Islands will play against a player from his Academy, the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Match against Zverev: “Not in the way that we wanted. A bit strange sensations. First because of the rival, because of how it started. Second, because of the much slower conditions than we expected. We expected something slow, but the truth is that it exceeded the expectations we had and it was difficult for him to adjust his game to those conditions and then to shoot epic, as you all saw. And part of the first set, especially the second more or less, until reaching the tie-break, also quite epic and then misfortune of Zverev, of what happened. So good, a difficult match to analyze, but he’s still alive. Rafa suffered, he said he had suffered”.
Suffering: “We suffered because we saw that he suffered. I think he hit a bit of a physical downturn not too late in the game, which is unusual. He doesn’t recover from these situations, but he also plays against a rival who doesn’t it lets you do a lot of things that are somewhat irregular, it’s true, but when it’s fine it’s very difficult to play. Honestly, I didn’t have them. I’m positive, but I didn’t have them all with me. You always expect Rafa to get something from where he almost there isn’t, but yesterday the situation wasn’t easy”.
Achievement for the final: “It’s that every game he saves is, I would tell you, it’s a transformation into a new player. And well, it’s clear that it wasn’t the best game, he’s played here, but the confidence from injury, apart from reaching the situation in the that came with the game he played, gives us confidence that he can overcome adversity and that he is prepared for it, so he expects a tough opponent with tennis or a type of game that is going to be a little different from what he experienced yesterday. And from there you have to adapt to the circumstances that are going to be and the rival that is going to be.”
Fear: “Well, the confidence with which he is. I would tell you that he is the player with the most ground game on the circuit. I am not saying that he does not lose to other players, but as a type of game he is the most grounded. I would tell you that this is a game that is tending towards extinction pretty much after the unification more or less of the speed lane balls all over the place. Background game, we have off-road players and he’s a little bit. He gets out of that being a player on fast court, as he did in the final in Miami, but his game is more on clay. Then we will see a battle at the back of the court with rallies, long rallies. A player who tries to dominate with his forehand and who has improved a lot in recent years and that comes with a lot of confidence. The imbalance of the experience factor is evident”.
Difficult ending for Ruud: “Anything can happen. But a player who has just reached his first final, where he plays against a super dedicated player, is not usually easy. On the other hand, well, it is something that is there, but we do not know for sure if it is going to pass or not, so we don’t count on it. I prefer to count much more on Rafa, on Rafa’s game, that he plays well, that he hits the ball well and that in the end, I won’t get tired of saying it, this Roland Garros, Rafa Nadal and death. It’s obvious, but it’s a day like today. More advantage for I think it’s not going to be a day like today. I think not, I think the weather is going to rain. It seems to be. Well, Well, it seems to be. But hey, the applications. I already trust it. I don’t trust anything that in theory should be raining after what I saw yesterday. But. But well, it doesn’t matter, the conditions in the end will be what they are to be and you have to adapt to them. And sometimes he has adapted very well to the situation that existed yesterday and other times the coast more like yesterday. But Rafa is an off-roader, he has the predilections of him, the conditions of him that he prefers, but he adapts to others “.
Nadal’s physique: “Yes. Let’s see, in the end he ends up recovering on clay. It’s a bit different from the hard court. On the hard court. I would worry a little more on less clay, since historically he has been recovering well. Of the games he He’s reaching an age. In fact, he’s a year older than the day before yesterday, already, he’s already a year older, but in that aspect I think he’s not going to recover well, he’s going to rest well and I don’t think it’s a handicap”.
The preparation: “Well, he’s a 17-year-old player with all the injuries he’s had. He hasn’t been out of the top even in a week. With all the injuries he’s had, with all the months he’s been out, it means when he’s back He has delivered. I was sure of that, but when he played so many tournaments I was also sure of that. But well, out of necessity, he has had to do it and he has convinced himself that it is true, that it is so. He has such great quality that depending on the draws in general, the two or three games of the Grand Lands and more here they fine-tune him a lot and. And there it is once they are eighth, fourth, because Rafa Nadal of all his life lies. He does not distinguish saving those two or three games that saves him with the quality that he has. By itself he is picking up his pace. So, for me that has always been more like he has lived, his mentality than a reality. But hey, it has gone well for him. of course it was in the past and now, due to circumstances, it has to adapt to what is and he is also doing very well. But I was always convinced that the quality he has gave him the ability to play as long as he is prepared, more or less he has been able to train. Even so, that does not allow tournaments, which may have been worse and did not meet what is expected of him. But overall I think it’s a game that has proven what I’m telling you.”
Team support for Rafa: “It’s not necessary. It changes a bit. When it has been a game almost as annoying as yesterday’s compared to other games. They talk, they comment on the game, they analyze it or they try to explain to you why certain things have happened. From there, well, I have my Francis version, another or similar, but we contribute our point of view and sometimes it is not the same and most of the time he is the same, but that is what it is about. He also has a humility in the one in which, despite having his vision and his voice, he accepts what others say. So, in that aspect, he is very easy to work with.”