Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal has lost in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters.
The world no. 2 was beaten by Argentine Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 7-5 for the first time in 10 matchups. Rafa only won 48 per cent of his first-serve points, whereas Schwartzman earned 58 per cent of his second-serve points.
After the match, our champ said:
“It was not my night at all. He played very well, I didn’t. This kind of thing can happen after a long time without playing. I played two good matches, tonight a bad one. Congrats to Diego. I will continue to work.”
Rafa falls to 63-7 at the Italian Masters 1000 event. This was his first tournament since the ATP Tour resumed in August. His next tournament is Roland Garros.
Well…wishing the best of luck to Rafa in Paris, but it will be so thought
1. Level of play is still in progress
2.Level of confidence is not satisfying right now after Rome
3. FO in September/October will not be the same as May/June. The weather and temperature conditions are totally different and bounce of the ball will not be beneficial for Rafa in September. He will have difficulties to deal with. Hopefully he prepares properly and improve his service game too.
Lost to Diego in Rome will give a lot of hopes for other players against him.
He must upper his game dramatically if he wants to win.
I am praying he will be ready for the challenge and he wins his 13 FO and 20 total to equal Roger.
VAMOS
Win or loose, always with Rafa! 😘😍Dissapointed yes, but obviously just not his day yesterday 😥 Keep safe and take care champ. – RG here we come! 🍀
VAMOS!! 🎾💪🏼
Rafa is already on his way home. I expect the three matches that he played will have given him a better idea of his level after the long break and he and his team can now work on things that need improving before RG. There isn’t much time, but Thiem and Zverev have only started practising on clay in the past of couple of days and neither of them will have a warm-up tournament at all.
rafa mi corazon esta lieno de amor por ti vamos rafa xxx
Today is a new day and, on reflection, i’m disappointed, not devastated, at Rafa’s loss. As always, our champ is gracious and philosphical in defeat. He knows what to do to fix the problem and we can rely on him to do whatever it takes to improve, going forward into Paris. That’s good enough for me.
The fans are all doing great jobs. I am very impressed. I let my email address even tough I can not go on it to see my messages.
Sorry to hear this bad news of Rafa’s loss but fair play must still be, so congratulations to the winner. Hope that Rafa is going well and can still come to Paris. There are a lot of very good things in Paris to appreciate.
My access to social networks and email have been blocked and no more good internet network both on computer and phone, but I still appreciate, when I can, to read all the comments and see the photos of Rafa on this site. Thank you for this.
Rafa’s loss is hard to swallow but there will be more Masters for him to win. Congrats to Diego.
The talk of humidity on Twitter was that Rafa was having problems with his grip. Rafa mentioned new shoes made for him by Nike. Was Rafa attempting something new in his game that we are not aware of?
I am not prone to making excuses for Rafa when he loses but I am not ready to accept “humidity” as the culprit. I will wait to see if he comes forward with more of an explanation.
Well… I have unfriended Diego on my private FB account, blocked his emails, texts, and phone number. [Joking]
Diego must make amends by winning the tournament otherwise he will stay in the doghouse.
Margo,
It’s hard but at the same time, I am thrilled Rafa is back on court. I wish he is still in the tournament, but credit to Diego for a fantastic match! He was in “god” mode yesterday😳
LOL we still like Diego, right? For sure, I will forgive him if he wins this title 😂
Good luck to Diego 🍀 a very likable guy.
I can’t wait for Rafa to play again, and thankfully, wait is not long until RG.🙏 Good luck to Rafa!❤️ Vamos💪
Mimi, I thought I knew a lot about Diego until I read the ATPTour.com’s MyPoint series dated May 6, 2020’s on Diego, Why Height Doesn’t Define Me.
If you haven’t read it already I think you can get a snapshot of how his younger life helped shape him into the caring man he is today.
Yes Mimi, it was hard but for me nothing can compare to the shock and anger I felt when Rafa pulled out of the 2016 FO; shock because it was so unexpected and anger to know what he put himself through while he was hiding an injury. Rome is in the past and I hope Rafa is just looking forward.
Still like Diego? Sure. What caught my attention the day before his Rafa match was something he said. “I am feeling better than I have ever felt in my life. I’m not a young guy on the Tour, I’m 28.” I paraphrased him but don’t recall him ever saying something similar. Then he said there may be a surprise [about the match]. I think somehow he felt he would beat Rafa this time after so many loses.
Do you know when the main draw is?
Might actually be helpful in french Open taking some pressure of his shoulders. Some players know hos to play Rafa om clay but are unable to do it except for at few shots. Swartzmann did manage this time and it might also end up being an advantage for Rafa
Fan for Life, you have a interesting point there. I hope it works out to be the case.
Let’s hope so.
Even the best of the best loose sometimes…love
Rafa, allways will!
This is a bad day is OK Rafa we support you vamossssssssss champ for the next tournament love your fans 🎾😘👍❤️
Good on Diego! I am withRafa ” He played very well- I didn’t ” It’s called ” noblese oblige” Generosity of spirit to those around him. I am proud to have such an admirable man in ourmidst.
Left a comment…not printed?
Good on Diego. I am with Rafa who said ” He played very well ,I didn’t ” It is called “noblesse oblige” a generosity of spirit to those around you. We should be proud and grateful to have such a man in our midst
as Rafa Nadal, a great sportsman and a great man!
French Open is the important one.
Where is fan love??
You look great Rafa and I am so glad to be seeing you play again😷🙏🏻🙏🏻👋🏻
With you win or lose Rafa ❤️
Stay fit and strong, hope you win #13 in Paris! Good luck🍀 Vamos 💪
Congratulations to Diego, impressive performance👏
So sorry to hear this. But in all fairness, being a champion means being able to play well in any condition. Better luck next time.
I agree. You can’t pick and choose the weather. Sunny or not, high bouncing balls or not, day or night, it’s the same for your opponent and you have to adjust to conditions.
Your comment is inappropriate. Rafa is an outstanding champion and in sport, you win, you lose . It just was not his night .
I can’t speak for Lorna because she is more than capable of doing that for herself.
What I will say is that a champion must adjust to whatever adverse conditions there are when competing. Conditions are the same for both parties in a tennis match.
I think your comment about “noblesse oblige” in your comment above is the epitome of inappropriateness.
Diego won and congrats to him. During his time off while the Tour was shut down he said, in an interview with the ATP, that he was constantly busy doing charity work for his community and country; the Red Cross; raising funds for various food banks and for players who needed financial support. You could call that “noblesse oblige,” helping others less fortunate but even then I would not use the phrase. The term itself is suggestive of a human hierarchy: the nobles over their serfs, et al.
I hate to see Rafa’s frustration as he holds his head in his hands after missing a crucial shot. He’s done it increasingly over recent years and it make me feel sad for him.
I agree. Realistically, reaching a quarter final of a M1000 when you haven’t played for over 6 months isn’t that terrible and I’m happy to see Rafa back on court, but he didn’t play well enough tonight. My guess is that he put everything into the first two rounds and it was a bit too much, too soon.
Well done to Diego. He was dynamite and thoroughly deserved to win as he was superior in every department. Rafa isn’t match-hard and it showed. Now he and his team have some serious work to do, especially on the serve which let him down big time. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of players studied Diego’s pattern of play and try to use it against Rafa.
The FO is a different proposition in which Rafa will have more time to get into matches over the best of five sets, so he’ll bounce back strong, particularly as there’s more at stake.
Meanwhile, I just hope someone (please, anyone) except Novak, gets their hands on the Rome trophy on Monday.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, Lorna.
Only Nadal could have stopped Novak and vice versa. It is already a fair accompli that Novak would win, Lorna, except of course Novak is defaulted!!!😀😀😀 But that’s not gonna happen.
The final is between a certain De… and a certain Dj….c and the winner is……… Of course, we know who the winner is….Dj….The only one that does not dissappoint.
But as always, we go point by point, game by game, match by match and day by day.
It’s not a gimmie for Novak. Let’s wait and see.
You don’t sound like a Rafa supporter and are very critical . The old saying ” don’t kick a man when he’s down
It seems that Rafa doesn’t play well at night, especially in Rome. I remember one year when he had all night matches, I think it was 2014, and he played each match horribly going three sets almost always to win (I think the match vs Dimitrov was the only one he won in straight sets), before losing to Djoko in the final in three sets during the day.
I don’t understand why Rafa is having all night matches again this year, whilst Djoko has all his matches during the day, so Djoko would be used to the day conditions right up to the final if he gets there.
I think Rafa complained about this before, and so in subsequent years, he was given some day matches, but this year its back to all night matches!
He didn’t play well, especially his serve which was horrible throughout the match, hardly got a first serve in! Diego OTOH, played really well, hardly missing any ball, getting to the ball so often and hitting winners from all corners.
I hope Rafa gets to play all day matches at RG, roof or no roof; he’s so used to playing in the sun!
“If he gets to the final” says Lucky Star.
Lucky Star, are you implying that Djokovic would not get to the final???
Nadal has no one to blame, but himself. The tour resumed in August, but Nadal deliberately stayed off until now! It was his choice. We are defined by the choices we make. He knew the consequences of his action ( or better still inaction) and he should stop crying blue murder!
Diego meets his Waterloo tomorrow hence the final is between Dennis S & Novak D.
The winner? Your guess is as good as mine.
But as always, we go point by point, game by game, match by match and day by day…..cheers
Wow but some people here have all the answers !!
“Snake”. You need to slither to a different fan page. I don’t think you belong here. Vamos Rafa.
So sorry Rafa didn’t win but wish him the best. Good luck in the future, sweet Rafa.
That was very disappointing. All credit to Diego for a great performance, but it was poor from Rafa, and the end of the second set was mad. But I suppose anyone’s bound to be rusty after 6 1/2 months off. Hoping for better things in Paris.