• Chronicle Nadal beats a commendable Alcaraz and will play the final against Fritz

After a brilliant fight in the

Indian Wells

semifinals ,

Rafa Nadal

was full of praise for his demanding and extraordinary rival, the young Spaniard

Carlos Alcaraz.

"He has all the shots. He can play very aggressive. He can play defensively because he is super fast. He can defend incredible balls. Of course, when he plays aggressive it is difficult to stop because the quality of his balls is very high," said the Spaniard, who He will face the American

Taylor Fritz

in the final (11:00 p.m.)

.

"I think he has all the ingredients to be an incredible champion. I treated the match not like I was a young player (...).

I treated the match like I was playing against one of the eight best players in the world

. In terms of his level That was my feeling," he added.

Nadal, who remains undefeated in 2022 with

20 consecutive wins

, beat a huge Alcaraz 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in three hours and 12 minutes in a memorable match that measured the present of Spanish tennis with his more than flourishing future.

At just 18 years old, Alcaraz put the winner of 21 Grand Slam titles on the ropes

in a match marked by the strong wind that blew in the second set and in some parts of the third

.

Nadal assured that Alcaraz has the "energy", the "passion" and the "determination" that are needed to succeed in tennis.

"

I don't have many doubts that (Alcaraz) will be great. By the way, he already is

," he pointed out.

Wind

Nadal also referred to the difficult conditions of the second set due to a wind that spoiled the game and caused completely crazy effects and bounces on each shot.

"The problem in tennis is that we don't have a rule for that.

There's no rule for the wind that says, 'Above X miles per hour we have to call off the match,'

" he reflected.

Nadal spoke with the tournament supervisor during the second set but the match was never postponed.

"I'll tell you one thing. A lot of times I enjoy playing in the wind because it's a challenge for me. It's like playing golf in a lot of wind.

We're going to have mistakes and the level won't be that high, but it's all about looking and finding solutions all the time.

time

," he argued.

"The only thing I don't enjoy is when we have to stop all the time because papers fall out, the net moves and a towel flies off. Then it becomes 'unplayable' for me. And another thing today was the sand.

It was like a sand storm (…). I felt sand in my eyes and that hurt a little

, "he added.

In this sense, Nadal was in favor of establishing in what cases a match should be interrupted by the wind.

Triple champion of Indian Wells (2007, 2009 and 2013), Nadal

will seek against Fritz his fourth championship in the Californian desert tournament and his fourth consecutive title

in a perfect 2022 for him so far after winning in Melbourne, the Australian Open and Acapulco .

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Know more

  • tennis

  • Rafael Nadal

  • Carlos Alcaraz

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