'Maybe one of my worst matches of the year' - Rafael Nadal's assessment of Indian Wells win over Sebastian Korda
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ByEurosport
Updated 13/03/2022 at 09:14 GMT
Rafael Nadal maintained his unbeaten start to his 2022 season with a hard-fought victory over world number 40 Sebastian Korda at Indian Wells. Korda served for the match in the final set at 5-4 up, but Nadal forced a tie-break decider which he won 7-3. Nadal admitted afterwards that it was his possibly one of his “worst matches of the year” but is happy to be through to the next round.
Highlights: Nadal fights back to beat Korda, extends unbeaten run to 16 matches
Rafael Nadal felt he played possibly one of his “worst matches of the year” in his Indian Wells second round match against Sebastian Korda after emerging victorious in three sets.
Nadal overcame the American 6-2 1-6 7-6(3), coming from a double break down in the third set, to set up a meeting with Great Britain’s Dan Evans in the next round.
The 35-year-old was able to maintain his 100 per cent win record for 2022, but he did not think the match was going to go his way.
“Maybe I played one of my worst matches of the year so far,” Nadal said.
“But Seb played great and his ball was very hard to play against. I am happy just to get through and have a chance to play better in the next round."
He added: "I thought I was lost today... and in Australia [Australian Open, I had a] very similar feeling. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep trying or keep fighting.
"Even if I think I'm going to lose the match, my mindset before returning that 5-2 game is, 'OK, I am playing bad, I had two breaks, but even if I'm going to lose, I'm going to try to finish the match having some better feelings.'
“So I need to fight to find these better feelings in that last game."
Nadal believed that in the end it was Korda’s unforced errors due to nerves that sealed him the win.
"I think it's true that probably he got a little bit more nervous," he said. "He made some more mistakes, being honest. I think I played a little bit better at least."
"We all get nervous when we have to win matches. If somebody tells you [differently], there is two options. That he lies [to] you, or the other option is he really doesn't care about the sport."
"I didn't have my best feeling today," Nadal said in his on-court interview.
"Good thing tomorrow is a day off. I need to keep practising... Another fantastic feeling being able to win that match. It doesn't matter what way."
Korda said it was a pleasure to play against the 21-time Grand Slam title winner who he says will "always be my idol".
"He started playing a lot different," the 21-year-old said.
"He moved closer to the baseline. I could see that he was a little worried, changing up his tactics. [i] just didn't play good games, and he took advantage of it.
"He'll always be my idol in tennis, [and be] one of the reasons why I picked up a tennis racquet.”
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