Nadal beats Isner at the Internazionali in Rome and immediately runs to train

The size of an infinite champion is not measured by trophies. Or at least, not just with those. Rafa Nadal made his debut at the Foro Italico, in the Masters 1000 he has won ten times and, immediately after the victory match, he asked for a field to train. No press conference, nothing, commitments, no rest. Training only: “I’ve talked about it a lot since I got back – he said -. I’m in a bit of a hurry because I have to hurry to find the feeling with the game. I need to recover all I’ve lost by standing still and therefore I have to get to work immediately, as much as possible because today’s priority is tomorrow “. Even a philosopher, Rafa, who then at the billionth question about Carlos Alcaraz and when he could become stronger than him, rolled his eyes: “The only thing I know is that I don’t talk about Carlos’ career every day. If he wins 25 Slam I will be happy for him and for our country. It would be better, especially for him, to stop with this comparison. “

Exhausted perfectionist, Rafa had explained it: “My body is now like a vintage car. It takes a while to get it back in motion” and after breaking his ribs in the battle against Alcaraz in the semifinals at Indian Wells, is trying to recover in an “active” way by playing all the tournaments that precede his great goal, Roland Garros number 14, 22nd Slam which would extend his record streak by defending it from an increasingly growing Novak Djokovic after the long stop for causes “vaccinate”.

Beyond the athletic form, Nadal’s goal is also to remain among the top four in the world which would allow him to get to Roland Garros avoiding Djokovic, Medvedev and Zverev at least until the semifinal. To make it he will have to win the tournament or otherwise hit Tsitsipas’ hammer. If he instead he were to leave the Forum from number 5 he would instead be the rival of one of them in the quarterfinals.