Nadal believes crucial factor cost him in Fritz defeat: "I have less time than him to do what I want to do on the ball"

Rafael Nadal singled out the pace of the match as a problem for him in the loss against Fritz noting that he had very little time.

Nadal isn't as quick as he used to be and it's a problem when he faces an aggressive player like Fritz on a fast court like that one in Turin. It gave him very little time to react after the serve and even after some of Fritz's groundstrokes:

“It's about time. Tennis and the sport in general, it's about time. I have less time than him to do what I want to do on the ball. I felt that everything was going so fast. When that happens, normally you are under stress, and you don't have the time to play the kind of shot that you want.”

Playing the match from a defensive position was a struggle all match long and it was too much to overcome this time around:

“In most of the points of the match, I was in a defensive position, and he was in an offensive position. That's what happened… But every single time I came back from injury, [it’s not normal] playing against top players [from] the first day. That's what's happens when you are coming back playing Masters 1000s and [the Nitto ATP Finals].”