Paris (AFP)

Rafael Nadal, back in Paris three weeks after his thirteenth coronation at Roland Garros to play the Masters 1000 at Bercy, before joining London for the end-of-season Masters, said Sunday that this was the "adequate schedule "to conclude a year turned upside down by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Q: You are already back in Paris ...

A: "Everything is different, it's another tournament, another surface, nothing is the same. The only thing that does not change is that we are in the same city, although unfortunately we cannot not enjoy it anymore. But at least we can play tennis, which is a great chance these days. As always I will give my maximum, it is going well in training, I hope to be well prepared for play at the right level. "

Q: How do you explain your lack of success on indoor hard?

A: "At the end of the season in previous years, it is true that I sometimes arrived very tired physically, and mentally too. I had physical problems on many occasions and that diminished my chances, I was at the end of my strength And indoors, I need to be fresh, to be in full possession of my means: this is probably the surface on which I need to play the best to be successful. Before, I was less prepared to play on this surface than now. It's not that I wasn't playing well; it was just a more complicated surface on which my rivals played at a high level, and I, he I missed being 100% to be competitive. At Bercy, I had a lot of problems, I had to withdraw from the tournament a number of times. And I did not win the Masters, even if I '' played a lot of semi-finals and a few finals there. This year the situation is different, I feel in good shape, am I enough

well, that, we'll see.

But I will continue to give the best of myself, as I have done throughout my career, and I hope to create opportunities for myself. "

Q: Under these conditions, do you approach this tournament and the Masters differently?

A: "When I play a tournament I don't think about that stuff, otherwise I wouldn't play it ... I just try to focus on playing my best tennis, not on the fear. that if I've been injured there in the past, it could happen again. Whether or not I won these tournaments has in no way affected my choice to play them. I play first because I have some. desire, and then because I played little this year, that things have developed positively after Roland Garros, and that I wanted to continue playing. With my team, we decided that it was the right schedule for the end of the season, and beyond. We are going through a difficult and unpredictable time, it's difficult to plan things, so I just try to be flexible and adapt to the conditions. we can have a more normal schedule next year and I can play a little more. "

Interview by videoconference.

© 2020 AFP