Indian Wells (AP) – Rafael Nadal himself had no explanation as to why his impressive winning streak in Indian Wells did not end right at the start.
“I don’t know. It’s probably true that he got a little nervous and made more mistakes and I at least played a little better,” said the record Grand Slam winner after the hard-earned 6-2, 1: 6, 7: 6 (7: 3) against Sebastian Korda from the USA, against whom he was already 2: 5 behind in the last set and then still booked his 16th win in a row. “I was very lucky to get through today.”
After victories at the Australian Open and the ATP tournaments in Melbourne and Acapulco, the 36-year-old Spaniard is still on course in the Californian desert and extended his excellent start into 2022 – despite the persistent foot problems. “The foot will never be at 100 percent again,” he said before the start in Indian Wells. However, giving up is never an option for the 21-time Major winner. “That’s how I was raised,” he said, adding to the match against Korda: “You lose 90 out of 100 of these games. If you give up, you lose them all.”
Medvedev defeats Machac
So there could still be a semi-final duel with Daniil Medvedev. Because the new number one in the tennis world rankings also won their opening match and advanced to the third round, albeit with significantly less effort. Playing as a neutral due to the war in Ukraine, the Russian defeated Czech Tomas Machac 6-3, 6-2. It was the first match for Medvedev since he replaced Novak Djokovic at the top of the rankings. In order to defend the status, he has to reach at least the quarter-finals – but he doesn’t feel any pressure because of that, he said. Djokovic himself was not allowed to enter the USA because of the lack of vaccination against the corona virus.
Because Djokovic only withdrew after the draw, Alexander Zverev now has the supposedly easier side of the tournament tree in front of him and could only meet Nadal or Medvedev in the final. First of all, the Olympic champion has to win his opening game against Tommy Paul from the USA on Monday night in Germany (second game of the evening session not before 2:00 a.m. CET) and advance to the third round himself. Dominik Koepfer and Oscar Otte are also playing for a place in the third round.