"Now is not the moment to find excuses" - Nadal following Rome loss

It's a rarity in tennis to see Rafael Nadal get beaten on clay but it's even rarer to see him lose in straight sets like he did yesterday in Rome. It was his first defeat against Schwartzman in 10 matches that they played with the score now being 9-1 and after the match he was very honest about why he lost:

"We can find excuses, but I didn't play well enough. Then we have to think internally, 'Why? How I can fix it?. Now is not the moment to find excuses. [It’s] just the moment to accept that I didn't play well enough."

Nadal struggled immesenly on his own serve as he allowed Schwartzman to win 52 % of his 1st service points. That's a terrible mark and it shows why the Argentinian broke Nadal 5 times in the 10 games that he served. Speaking on that Rafa said:

"It was not my night at all. He played a great match I think and [I didn't]. When this happens, you have to lose. These things can happen. After such a long time without competing, I played two good matches, and now today I played a bad one against a good opponent. That's how it is. I just want to congratulate Diego and I’m going to keep working."

The next event for Rafa will be the French Open where he will be chasing his 13th title. Speaking about preparation for that event he said:

"I did my job here. I did a couple things well and other things bad and that's it. At least I played three matches. I fought until the end. But losing that many [service games], you can't expect to win a match. [It’s] something that I have to fix.

I know how to do it. I’m going to keep working and keep practising with the right attitude and try to give myself a chance to be ready."