Botic van de Zandschulp (vainqueur de Nadal 6-4, 6-4) : “Nadal announced a few weeks ago that he was going to play his last competition here. We say to ourselves that maybe we could play against him, maybe not. When we arrived, the first two days, I didn’t really think about it and then I decided to see who I could meet, because I wasn’t sure.
The last two days, Rafa has been training a lot, so I had the impression that he was going to play singles here. And yes, it is very difficult to prepare for this. It’s a very emotional match. The atmosphere was great, incredible. But it’s also a complicated match, everyone was cheering for Rafa. But I think I handled it well in the end.
How does it feel to be the last player to beat Nadal? I haven’t really thought about it yet, actually. I played it twice at Roland Garros and at Wimbledon (two defeats in 2022). But I think he was a different player at Malaga, maybe physically. He was, I wouldn’t say struggling, but of course you see he’s getting older and the injuries are taking their toll… I didn’t really think about being the last man to beat Rafa, but maybe -maybe I will do it in a few days (smiles). »
