Indian Wells – Rafael Nadal left no stone unturned but still conceded his first defeat of the year in the end. Despite a lot of pain and difficulty breathing, the Spaniard struggled for more than two hours against Taylor Fritz of the USA in the final at Indian Wells.
Nadal fended off a match point and then lost 3:6, 6:7 (5:7) a good 20 minutes later after missing a great chance in the tiebreak. Instead of celebrating his fourth tournament win of the year and starting the clay court season undefeated, the Spaniard had to digest the defeat and the circumstances.
“I wanted to make it perfect in front of clay,” Nadal said. “I’m sad because I wasn’t able to fight properly. Those feelings are hard, any day, but especially in a final it’s very, very ugly.” Undefeated for 20 matches this year, he had claimed his 21st major win at the Australian Open, a record in men’s tennis, and also won the ATP tournaments in Melbourne and Acapulco – all after foot difficulties that had kept him completely out of action for months.
Nadal: “This is a great day for him”.
The foot would never be at 100 per cent again, he had said before the start of the Masters in the Californian desert, but he could now deal with it and trust his body again. That was true until he had to have treatment on the court late in the semi-final against his 17-year younger compatriot Carlos Alcaraz the night before. Then, against Fritz, there were further interventions by the physio. Not knowing exactly what the problem was yet because of the short time between the two matches, Nadal said. “It’s hard for me to breathe,” he reported. Nevertheless, he managed to score some insane points against Fritz, who played enormously well for his part.
As a fair sportsman, he had not mentioned his obvious discomfort with a syllable during his acceptance speech on the court and congratulated Fritz on his first victory on the ATP Tour. In the press conference, too, Nadal was keen to stress the significance of the moment for his opponent. “This is a big day for him, I hope he enjoys it.”
Fritz: “This is one of those childhood dreams”
Fritz is the first American since Andre Agassi in 2001 to win at Indian Wells. At 24, he is also as young as Novak Djokovic was last when he won in 2011. “I have to hold back tears for all the interviews that follow. This is one of those childhood dreams, to win this tournament here in Indian Wells, that you don’t even think could come true,” Fritz, who hails from California, said during his first on-court reaction to huge cheers from the crowd in the world’s second-largest tennis stadium.
He himself also had physical problems and was not sure until shortly before the match whether he would be able to compete at all. “I can’t even begin to tell you how unbelievable it is that I was able to play the way I did today, that’s how much pain I was in,” he reported about the problems with his ankle that had surfaced during warm-up.
When he finally took the second match point in the tiebreak after Nadal had chased a ball out at the net against all expectations at 5:5, Fritz sank onto his back and stretched his arms and legs. “I’ve been losing these matches against the big boys all my life and it always felt like they were unbeatable,” he said. “It’s an honour just to be on the court with him, I grew up watching him. “
