MADRID, 8 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former tennis player and director of the Mutua Madrid Open, Feliciano López, commented this Monday that as far as he knows, the Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal is “improving and evolving” from his injury, so he hopes that he “recovers as soon as possible” so that he can saying goodbye “in the best way that is playing” in, among others, the Madrid tournament.
“The only thing I want is for him to recover as soon as possible and to be able to say goodbye to tennis in the best way he plays. It would be very sad for all tennis fans if Rafa could not retire from tennis as he deserves. After what he passed Federer, it would be very sad if Rafa had to go through that too. As far as I know, he is improving and his injury is evolving, so I have a lot of hope that he can be here,” said Feliciano López about the possibility that Nadal could play the Mutua Madrid Open.
About Carlos Alcaraz he said that he “loves playing in Madrid”, a tournament that he has already won twice and that he is “one of the best players in the world.” “As a Spaniard, being lucky enough to have a tournament in Spain and with Alcaraz participating is a reason for satisfaction, and as an organization I can only hope that he is healthy and comes to compete in his best condition,” he added.
The director of the Mutua Madrid Open is clear about what his dream final would be for this year’s edition. “I would like, if I can choose, for the final to be an Alcaraz-Nadal obviously, but we are still far from that, so we are going to go little by little,” he added.
“There are always nerves. We are the luckiest, along with the Grand Slam, because the best players in the world have the obligation to play the Master 1,000 and that is an incredible advantage as a tournament. But then a thousand things can arise such as injuries, and when he is an important player it is always a small disappointment,” he confessed regarding the possibility of there being significant losses in the tournament tables.
Regarding the room for improvement in the tournament, Feliciano López believes that all the steps that had to be taken “have been achieved.” “We are in a two-week tournament and it has not stopped growing, although there is always the desire to continue improving and continue doing things so that the tournament continues to occupy that important place,” he concluded.
The former tennis player also highlighted the fact that the tournament organization has been able to install a tennis court in the iconic Plaza Mayor. “This year we have gone up one more step after Colón last year. The Plaza Mayor is a slightly more special place, it is always full of tourists. It is a beautiful image for the tournament and an opportunity for everyone to be able to play in a track that is a replica of the one we have in the Caja Mágica,” he noted.
Finally, he valued the love that the citizens of the Spanish capital have for tennis today. “Tennis has always been in fashion in Madrid. It is a city where great tennis players have always emerged, and the tournament contributes to this,” he concluded.