Nadal encouraged after winning first long match in Madrid: “It is positive”

Rafael Nadal knows better than anyone that nothing can be taken for granted these days, where his tennis or his body is concerned. How the 37-year-old wakes up on Tuesday following his three-hour, two-minute win over Pedro Cachin at the Madrid Open will tell its own story.

But so, too, does the fact that Nadal was able to come out on top after an up and down third-round encounter with world No 93 Cachin, who looked overawed in the first set but then turned it into a gruelling, testing match, especially for a 37-year-old back after hip surgery and still battling an abdominal injury.

After the 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win, Nadal emphasised the positives, comparing the way he feels today with the way he did after losing an epic to Jordan Thompson in Brisbane. That match saw Nadal pick up another injury; this time, he feels good, if a little nervous to say so.

“It’s positive, because as I said in Spanish, now I don’t feel that something went wrong on my body, but I need to wait until tomorrow, being 100 percent honest,” he told reporters in Madrid, where he will play Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round on Tuesday.

“In Brisbane, after the match with Jordan Thompson, I felt something there, but I hoped in the press conference I had the faith that nothing wrong happened but then (it) happened, you know. Then when I wake up (the next day), the day after, my feelings were not the way that I really thought that could be. So I needed to do all the process, the MRI, and it showed I have a small tear there.

“I don’t have that negative feeling now like I had in that moment, but nobody knows what can happen during the night and how I wake up tomorrow morning. And that’s the (truth). I’m not saying that because trying to protect myself. I am talking with my heart and saying exactly the feelings that I have right now. Let’s wait for tomorrow. I hope nothing happens, and I hope to be on court tomorrow.”

More unpredictable than before

Outlasting a much-younger opponent will doubtless have given Nadal a little more confidence in his body, building on the momentum created by his outstanding win over Alex de Minaur in the previous round.

Being out of the game for so long – he missed almost all of 2023 and then three more months at the start of 2024, means he’s still not battle-hardened, although having played more than 1,000 matches on Tour, the 14-time Roland-Garros champion lacks nothing in experience.

Now his job is to recover, something that has traditionally not been a problem for him, even if he admits circumstances are different now.

“I don’t know how many matches I have played in the last two years,” he said. “Eight? That’s it. So is difficult for me to predict what’s going on and how I’m gonna recover, because you don’t practice for that, because I was not able to practice for that, you know.”

Nadal: “If I fought in Barcelona, probably I wouldn’t be here”

Nadal has pushed himself more in Madrid than he did in Barcelona, a conscious decision, he said, designed to avoid further injury, and disappointment.

“I had issues all the time, so I was not able to have three hours’ practices or something like this to protect my body for these matches,” he said. “So, I mean, it’s unpredictable. That’s it. And you need to accept the unpredictable things today. I need to accept that.

“Last week we didn’t accept that, because I was not ready to fight for the(second) set with Alex (in Barcelona), and I think was the right decision because today I’m able to be here. If I probably fought in the (whole) match, I would not be here.

“But today of course we need to start trying what’s going on, and that’s what I’m doing. Trying without doing crazy things but trying, and tomorrow let’s see.”

Lehecka a tough challenge

Lehecka is likely to represent another step up, something Nadal knows well having practised with the Czech last week. The Spaniard would like the result to be different, this time.

“I hope, because I lost,” he said. “But I don’t know. Let’s see. I cannot predict what’s going on tomorrow, what can happen tomorrow, what level I gonna show tomorrow.

“I am more unpredictable than what I used to be. I used to be not very unpredictable player. I used to be more or less predictable player because I have been very regular in terms of emotionally talking and in terms of level talking of tennis. Building every day a little bit better but more or less stable, no?

“There is difference. I am more unpredictable for the opponents but especially for myself.”

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