Rafa Nadal refused to make excuses for his shock defeat by Diego Schwartzman in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open, insisting that his focus is now on fine-tuning his game ahead of the French Open which begins Sept. 27. The nine-time Rome champion looked well off the pace in his 6-2 7-5 loss to the 15th-ranked Argentine, an opponent Rafael Nadal had defeated nine straight times heading into Saturday's encounter in the Italian capital. "We can find excuses, but I didn`t play well enough. Also read Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic make winning start to Rome Tennis Masters"I did my job here. I`m going to keep working and keep practising with the right attitude and try to give myself a chance to be ready."

Source: dna September 20, 2020 07:52 UTC