Don't discount the king of clay Rafael Nadal, says Rusedski
The former world no. 4 Greg Rusedski believes that the Madrid Open semifinals loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas will not affect Rafael Nadal's chances in the French Open. Speaking on Amazon Prime the British pundit said: “I would say that he is not that far away. He will be bitterly disappointed not to push Tsitsipas to serve out for it again. But he is a little bit better than where he was last week. Rome, he is going to put in the same effort and the same attitude and will get to the semis or final. Don’t discount the King of Clay - he is fractions away! He played against a guy who was truly inspired and played spectacular tennis in the first and third set.”
Daniela Hantuchova added: “He had the best night of the year [against Wawrinka in the quarter-finals] so he has so much to take from this tournament. There are just a few little things that he could have done better but his opponent was just better. I think he is going to be really pleased even though it is only the semi-finals. I think at the French Open he will really turn it on.”
Speaking of his wins on Thursday against Jeremy Chardy and Nikoloz Basilashvili, Nadal said: "Has been a different kind of match. Has been a very positive day for me. Of course, yeah, was a day that playing two matches is a very dangerous day. I was able to manage it well. I played well, especially I think in the afternoon better than the morning. Yeah, happy about that level in the afternoon."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2JsP119
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