Spanish tennis player Raphael Nadal He begins his journey in the Rome tournamentfifth Masters 1000 of the season and a clay game date where he hopes to increase his senses and level of play Roland Garros.

“My body is like an old car, it needs time to get back to work,” the Spaniard recalled at a press conference before his debut at Foro Italico, where he’ll get off to a tough start against the “bomber”. American John Isner.

The Manacor one will start defending the 2021 title against the tenth American to achieve in the Eternal City, a scenario he hopes to be far away. better level Magic Box where he came to prepare after being injured Ribs at Masters 1,000 at Indian Wells.

The winner of the 21 ‘majors’ was off the courts for over a month and returned at the Mutua Madrid Open last week and was knocked out in the quarterfinals against fellow countryman Carlos Alcaraz, the new world tennis sensation and his massive absence. Foro Italico after winning in the Spanish capital.

Nadal had two very tough matches in the Madrid clay, where his tennis was somewhat penalized by altitude, as a three-set defeat against Murcian was accompanied by a three-set win against Belgian David Goffin in the previous round.

This shot was positive and now he will try to take another step in a tournament where he will return to the Serbian side. Novak Djokovic, who was a finalist last year, is gaining sensations in Paris to defend his crown and would see them face-to-face together in a hypothetical semi-final.

Thus, if world number four passes Isner’s test, he can face Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the 16th round, while in the quarterfinals again material opponents such as Norwegian Casper Ruud or Goffin appear. The other two favorites are the German Alexander Zverev and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who finished second in Madrid.