Nadal unsure about French Open after lopsided loss

Rome, May 11

Fifteen days before he is scheduled to play in what will likely be his final French Open, Rafael Nadal is so unsatisfied with his level of tennis that he’s still debating whether or not to go to Roland Garros.

Nadal’s surgically repaired hip and his 37-year-old legs didn’t provide him with the necessary means to be competitive enough as ninth-ranked Hubert Hurkacz overwhelmed the 22-time Grand Slam champion on the Spaniard’s beloved clay for a 6-1 6-3 victory in the third round of the Italian Open.

It was Nadal’s first match against a top-10 player in one and a half years and he couldn’t have been more disappointed. “Tough day for me in all ways because I felt more ready than what I showed,” Nadal said. “I am little bit more unpredictable today, not playing enough for the last two years. Too many doubts.”

In terms of games won, it was the most lopsided loss for Nadal on clay in 21 years, since also winning only four games against Gaston Gaudio in Hamburg in 2003 when he was only 16.

Now, Nadal will need to dig deeper on the practice court if he wants to be competitive one last time at the French Open, where he is the record 14-time champion. Roland Garros starts on May 26.

Nadal said he had two options for Paris. “One is to say, ‘OK, I am not ready, I am not playing enough well,” Nadal said. “Another is accept how I am today and work the proper way to try to be in a different way in two weeks. The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind today. But, if I have to say what’s my feeling and if my mind is closer one way or the other way, I going to say be in Roland Garros and try my best,” he added. — AP