Monte Carlo Masters 2021 - Rafael Nadal admits he made 'lots of mistakes' in rare defeat on clay

ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 17/04/2021 at 11:44 GMT

Rafael Nadal rarely loses on clay, having won the French Open a record 13 times in his career. But he suffered a shock defeat in the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo masters as Andrey Rublev beat the former world number one 6-2 4-6 6-2. And Nadal has admitted he made “lots of mistakes” on his way to defeat.

Rafael Nadal admits he made "lots of mistakes" as he failed to kick-start his clay court season in a defeat to Andrey Rublev at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The Spaniard suffered a shock loss to the Russian in the quarter-finals.

And the 13-time French Open winner admitted he was disappointed not to get his clay-court season off to a winning start.

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"But that's it... It's not the moment to complain. When you're not able to do the things you had to do on court, then it's not the moment to complain after," said Nadal.

"The only thing that I can do is go to Barcelona and keep practising, try to fix the things that didn't work well. Lots of mistakes... A few things that make a big difference on the result and on my game that I wasn't able to make today."

Nadal served seven double faults and was broken seven times, and while Rublev celebrated one of his best ever wins, he admitted the former world number one seemed off his game.

Rafael Nadal was not at his best against Andrey Rublev

Image credit: Getty Images

"If we look (at) a player like Rafa, the best claycourt player in history, then it's one of my best victories," said Rublev, who faces Casper Ruud next.

"But if you look at it from the other side... for sure he didn't play his 'good' level. In his position it's tough when people expect that... you have to win every time.

"It's so tough to play with this feeling."

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