World No.2, Rafael Nadal claimed his first title of the 2019 season after defeating Novak Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in the Italian Open 2019 finals.
Rafael Nadal won a record 34th ATP Masters 1000 title of his career. It was also his 81st tournament win. Rafael Nadal claimed his 9th Italian Open title with this victory. The Spaniard now reduces his head-to-head deficit against Novak Djokovic to 28-26 as the two met for the 54th time in their career.
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Rafael Nadal was asked about how does he train mentally to stay focused on the top level. The 17-time grand slam champion answered, “You work mentally when you go on the court every day. You don’t complain when you play bad, when you have problems, when you have pains. You put the right attitude, the right face and you are not negative about all the issues that happened, if I am playing bad, if I have physical problems.”
Rafael Nadal also talked about how he keeps himself calm and not get frustrated when things do not go on his way. He said, “You go on the court every day with practising to keep practising, that’s the mental work, no? That’s something that I did during all my career, not being frustrating when the things are not going well, not being too negative. That’s why I was able to always have the chance to be back.”
“Here we are. Important title, important moment. Now is the moment to keep going”, added the Spaniard.
Rafael Nadal will now aim to take his momentum to the French Open 2019, where he will be defending his title. Nadal looks in good touch after the Italian Open 2019. He won a career-best four 6-0 sets during the tournament.
Rafael Nadal said after the match, “You were asking for titles. Finally, I have a title.”
“For me, the most important thing is feeling myself playing well and healthy, with the energy that I need. If that happens, the experience is that I’m going to fight for titles sooner or later, “ added the 32-year-old.
Nadal accepted that it’s a special thing to play against the Serb. He said, “Of course, playing against Novak is always a special thing because it’s part of the history of this sport. It’s always a special feeling.”
He further added, “Today was for me and the last couple of times have been for him, but I’m happy for the title more than winning against Novak.”
