"Go to Rome and win it. That's the truth." - Nadal looks ahead after Madrid Open loss

Rafael Nadal failed to advance past the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open losing to Alexander Zverev in straight sets.

It was an upset win for Zverev who expressed confidence in his abilities heading into the match having beaten Nadal in the past two meetings they played. His familiarity with the Madrid Open (2018 winner) also boosted his confidence but the ease with which he beat Nadal was surprising to everyone.

For Nadal, who served for a 5-2 lead in the first set, it was a defeat hard to understand:

“This is very difficult to understand, especially for me. When this happens to me, it’s usually in the opposite way – I find a way to win sets even though I’m not playing my best or as good as the opponent.”

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The confusion with Nadal comes from the fact that one could argue he was the better player in the first set especially early and Nadal felt the same way admitting:

"I think for most of the first set, I was playing better than him. And this is the negative part; while playing better than him in the first set, I still lost 6-4."

Despite all of that Nadal is focusing on the positives of the event while also accepting the bitter feeling coming with the loss:

“I’m leaving Madrid with an overall positive feeling, but at the same time with the ugly feeling of having played a match like this today against a great player."

Nadal shifts his focus to Rome where he lost in the semifinals last year and he is hoping to be better this year admitting he wants to win it:

"I feel like I’ve been moving forward. We’ll see what happens in Rome. For me, the objective before Roland-Garros is to go to Rome and win it. That’s the truth.”