Nadal after his fall at the US Open: “Now I want to go home, I have more important things than tennis”

Rafael Nadal fought back, but there was little he could do to avoid falling to American Frances Tiafoe in the US Open Round of 16. . The American won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-3 against the European who will now try to focus on the family aspect, since his wife, Mery Perelló, is pregnant and was hospitalized a few weeks ago. before undergoing an operation on medical recommendation.

After the defeat, Nadal explained the reasons for his defeat, talked about what he hopes for the future and took the opportunity to support his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz who reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.

“I played badly and he played well. If you want to be in the quarterfinals of the US Open, you have to play better than me. it’s clear . I had my options, with the break in fourth gear, and other times to be there. Winning them would have given me confidence and would have changed things, but I couldn’t do anything today,” he explained in the post-match press conference.

“Him yes. Congratulations to Frances because she was better. Now is the time to go home and mentally prepare again. When I feel ready to compete again, I’ll be there “, he added.

Even if this wait can be long. “I’ve just come off of a fourth round loss at the US Open, right now it’s difficult for me to make a clear analysis of my immediate future. Now I want to go home, I have more important things than tennis to do. With this basic principle, I will then make the decisions that I have to make depending on what is happening. . The personal now comes before the professional . I had to make an effort here. It didn’t come out, but now it’s time to do a reset. The last few months have been difficult. From there, starting over professionally speaking and personally solving a problem as important as having my first child. Hopefully everything goes well,” he said.

Likewise, he ruled out that his personal moment affected his performance in the tournament. “There is no need to look for excuses. There are times when you can with everything and others not. This time it touched me that no. I congratulate the rival, I tried , but unfortunately this was not possible. I had trained well, but at the competition level, I was missing something in terms of freshness or shooting, and maybe a bit of peace of mind. You can play 24 hours a day but the reality is simple, I didn’t play well and when you don’t play well enough you don’t win. “, he expressed.

“That’s sports. Whatever the circumstances, I couldn’t perform from day one here. So far we have come. I can’t do anything else. I want to play again in Europe with good feelings, there is still a tournament, if everything goes well, I hope to be able to play them “, he added.

He also gave his support to Carlos Alcaraz who qualified for the quarter-finals and continues in the fight to reach number 1 in the ATP rankings. “I haven’t seen him play any games, but if he is in the quarter-finals, I guess he will play well. I wish him the best, being the last Spaniard here. He has options to win his first big and be No. 1. You are having a fantastic year and I wish you the best of luck ”.