World No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro is feeling relaxed despite his heavy loss at the hands of the defending champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the tournament in Paris on Friday.
Del Potro, who was playing in his second Roland Garros semifinal was simply no match to Nadal as the Spaniard bulldozed his way through to a fairly comfortable 6-4, 6-1 victory in two hours and 14 minutes. The Argentine was left to rue the missed opportunities as he failed to convert any of the six break points he had on the Spaniard’s serve in the opening set. And Del Potro acknowledged it was indeed the most vital statistic of the match.
“I think so. He’s too strong,” del Potro said.
“He’s improving his backhand a lot. That’s why he’s the No 1 and beating all the guys.
“He looks fresh. I mean, he’s healthy. And the strength that he has and the mentally, everything is perfect, works perfect for him playing in clay.
“I think it’s gonna be a fun match to watch. I will be at home, I think.
“I wish all the best for both guys. They both deserve to win.”
“When you’re playing against the best player in the world and you have a few opportunities and you don’t seize these opportunities, you have to wait for them to come back and wait for the same chances that I had at the beginning.
“I had a lot of break points in the first set. I was playing better at the beginning of the match. But I knew that Rafa was going to play from worse to better and, if I was not able to win the first set, the match would be as it was.
“Unfortunately, I was not able to convert my break points. I made a few errors. And he played well. If I had won that break, we could have played a longer match.
“But anyway, I did a beautiful tournament, better than expected. And losing against Rafa on his best surface, his best court, I’m quite relaxed about that.”
