I know how to fix it, says Nadal after shock defeat

ROME: Rafael Nadal warned he knew how to fix his errors before his French Open title defence after crashing in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters on Saturday, the final warm-up before Roland Garros.

The nine-time Rome winner slumped 6-2, 7-5 on a humid night in the Italian capital to Argentine Diego Schwartzman, a player the second seed had beaten in all nine of their previous clashes.

It was Nadal’s last chance to tune-up before his bid for a 13th French Open, and record-equalling 20th Grand Slam to match Roger Federer in just over a week.

“It’s a completely special and unpredictable year,” said the 34-year-old.

“I’ll probably go back home and then let’s see what’s going on. I did my job here.

“I fought until the end. But losing that many serves, you can’t expect to win a match.

“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 me a chance to be ready.

“I did a couple of things well and other things bad. And that’s it. At least I played three matches.”

The two-time defending champion was making his comeback after a long coronavirus-enforced break having skipped the US Open.