Playing Rafael Nadal on clay in 2017 and 2018 was veru cruel, says Thiem
In a press conference in Madrid Dominic Thiem commented on Rafael Nadal's current level. The Spaniard dealt with a knee injury at the beginning of the year and he is slowly getting back to a top level. "I played against him already in many stages of his game, I would say. When I beat him first in Buenos Aires three years ago, he was not playing really well and I played him 2017, 2018 when it was very cruel to play him on clay, I would say", said the Austrian. "And I think he hasn't reached that level yet in Barcelona, but still it was a very good game and I think that he's on the way back to the amazing level he had '17 and '18. But, I mean, it's already amazing, with the injury he had in Indian Wells, to be back at this level already now and I think he's only getting stronger the further the clay season gets."
Meanwhile, Juan Martin del Potro commented on his comeback to tennis after a knee injury: "Emotionally, I've found some similarities to what I experienced a couple of years ago, especially in the past month, when I had a couple of cloudy days. As soon as I injured myself emotionally it was very frustrating because I was very -- I was fighting at a very high level for important things. And while it was a set down, it was a sad situation due to that injury. But at that moment, we didn't think that it was something really that was going to take a long time. The doctors were really trying to help me, trying to solve the problem quickly and after that, things were a little bit longer. The injury wasn't -- I wasn't recovering as fast as I thought. The injury was a little bit more difficult than we thought. Time was going on and I was just trying to do a lot of things, trying to be back on the court. I still felt some pain, daily pain. I am still feeling it at the moment. And in those moments, where you maybe are not so positive, or where you are not so strong, of course, I started to remember the memories of the past and I started feeling what I might have felt a couple of years ago. But I think that right now I'm in a good situation and emotionally I'm feeling pretty well and I think that the negative things you have to leave them aside and right now, I'm trying to focus on the positive things. It's a good thing to be here and I'm thinking just to move forward and with all the experience that I have, try to do the things properly, try to do it once again, try to face the problems and just be back and do my best."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2JkqiLP
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