Down goes Rafael Nadal!
Post-pandemic tennis continues to be a surprise, as Nadal suffered a rare clay-court loss in the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday night. Diego Schwartzman played some of the best tennis of his career and upset the Spaniard 6-2, 7-5 in two hours and three minutes.
This is now the second consecutive big tournament from which the overwhelming favorite has bowed out prior to the final four. At the U.S. Open, of course, Novak Djokovic was infamously defaulted from his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta after a ball hit in frustration happened to slam into a lineswoman’s throat.
For Nadal, it was a much different kind of exit from Rome. The nine-time champion did not beat himself like Djokovic did; he simply got outplayed. Schwartzman was ruthless from the baseline, breaking his opponent a whopping five times in 10 return games. It is true that Nadal showed some signs of rust from his sixth-month layoff that had not been on display in his two previous matches. But even if the world No. 2 was at his best, this was more about Schwartzman. The Argentine consistently played closer to the baseline than Nadal, took the ball early, and dictated play.
“It was crazy; tennis is crazy,” Schwartzman said. “The last three weeks were really bad for me. Yesterday I was not playing very well and today I played my best tennis ever. I was not thinking I could beat him because I was not playing [well].”
The head-to-head history also did not bode well for the 28-year-old. He had been 0-9 lifetime against Nadal and 2-22 in total sets.
“I played a few times against the three big champions in tennis,” Schwartzman added. “I never beat them until today. I’m very happy…. For sure it’s my best match ever.”
“[It was] a super heavy evening in terms of humidity,” Nadal noted. “Conditions out there were much heavier than the previous days in terms of the bounces of the ball. For me (it) was difficult to push him back. He did a great job. I tried hard in the second, but losing serve three times in a row…then you need to [hope] for a miracle. I did twice, but the third one, even if I [had]15/30 (it) was not possible.”
It will be Schwartzman vs. Denis Shapovalov in the semifinals, while Djokovic awaits Casper Ruud.
wowzer
Argghhh!!….It’s hurt like h@$&!!
But isn’t rafa’s Diego complex unutterably irritating mira! Ie see my remarks on the other thread. As soon as I saw Diego’s name I thought oh no rafa’s insane complex will come out to play!😠😠
Oh yeah amy!….You’re absolutely right!…God!…That what’s infuriating me amy!….Coz it’s all about what in his head!..Not his game!
This very problem too makes him submissive to Novak on hard repeatedly…I’ve longed to c Rafa play freely without fear against Novak or Schwartzy like his old days…(like USO 2013..God!…Rafa was so AWESOME in that match!)Not sure we will be able to that Rafa anymore..*big sigh*
I agree fully!
Rafa has no business losing to diego regardless of how diego played. He’s the 12 time roland garros champion for goodness sake! My issue with rafa is withdrawing from the US open in the first place. The excuses he gave were rubbish in my opinion. Nadal has managed a tight schedule before ie transition from french open to wimbledon and grass is also bad on the body and knees as rafa has said in the past. He has managed that transition before. Him withdrawing from the US open and cinci was a very stupid decision and is the result of his atrocious play here.
Nadal thrives on competitive matchplay. He builds his confidence with enough match play. He has not had any match play whatsoever and he was expected to win rome and french open just like that? That’s not logical, he’s not superman. Had he not withdrawn from the hard courts, he may not have won the US open though he’s more than capable of winning it but he will definitely have more than enough match play to come into the clay courts with confidence and his best clay court tennis. Instead he put all his eggs in one basket and it has become a disaster-he lost to somebody he shoulld never have lost to and is still coming to french open with zero confidence and less matches under his belt.
Serena is 39/38 and is prone to injuries galore and yet even she played the US open and is playing the french open. Djokovic is playing everything even with all his blunders this year, he’s still moving on and up and he is 33 and so is thiem and you can bet thiem will come out all guns blazing in this french open. The injuries and age excuse is tired and wasted. He should have never withdrawn from the hard courts period. He brought this upon himself.
I hope that by some miracle that rafa will find his game this french open and win it like he did in 2014 against all odds. He was rubbish in 2014 all clay season but when he faced ferrer at the french and lost that first set, he found his game and the rest is history. I hope he does the same here. If he doesn’t, I hope anybody but djokovic wins the french. if djokovic wins it, djoko and his fans will be insufferable forever having won 2 or more slams at all majors.
Diego wasn’t playing the best tennis of his life either, he broke rafa twice in the 2nd set and rafa broke back including rafa breaking him when he was serving for the match. Sorry that’s not best tennis of his life material, rafa was atrocious. Better he lost to diego than he lost to djoko in the final which would have destroyed his mental strength.
I agree rafa does have this inferiority complex or too much respect in general when it comes to diego on any surface except grass and djoko on all surfaces especially hardcourts. It’s beyond baffling because on any given day rafa’s best tennis is more than capable of beating both of them.
Very agree with u happy esp.the last part…I actually wondering(always!)…why in God’s name he didn’t work out on his mental complexity/inferiority in the off season??The tour were shut off for 6 months..there’s plenty of time to sort out something..and yet here he is, still losing a winnable match with a same problem like he lost multiple winnable matches over the years…esp against Novak…
Did he want to retire with a poorly record on hc/grass against Novak?Didn’t he feel something when Roger whom he dominate over the years suddenly found a way to beat him on hc & inspired by it?
Rafa is a great champion…and i love him for his many qualities…but to be ok with this situation & didn’t do anything bout it made me so mad!…This mental thingy has been going on for 5 years…honestly,i think it’s been long enough!
Mira will write later. Am very cross about Rafa’s stupid Diego complex.. it’s beyond ridiculous this exaggerated respect for players who are minnows by comparison with his own achievements. For all the extraordinary things Toni did for Rafa, the inculcation of this exaggerated respect for others has been a nightmare after he started to lose confidence in 2015. I could scream at times!
Amazing stuff Schwartzy!
I love Rafa but that was a GREAT effort from Schartzman….best I’ve ever seen him play….Bravo!
Well done to Diego.
He came close more than once. Now he can say that one day he beat Nadal on Clay. Not many can claim the same thing.
Rafa will really have his work cut out this french open. The match reminded me so much of the rg2012 final where he could not just not hit past Novak. If the conditions are cooler and there are night matches, an opponent in the zone can take it to rafa especially since rafa is still finding his feet on the clay