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'I know how': Rafael Nadal's defiant warning for French Open rivals

Seen here, Rafael Nadal celebrates a winning point at the Italian Open.
Rafael Nadal is staying positive ahead of his bid for a 13th French Open title. Pic: Getty

World No.2 Rafael Nadal says he knows what went wrong in a historic defeat to Diego Schwartzman at the Italian Open, and has warned he'll fix it ahead of the French Open, starting next weekend.

Nadal suffered a shock straight sets defeat in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters in what is the final warm-up before the Roland Garros grand slam gets underway.

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The Spaniard was chasing a third consecutive title in Rome and had never previously lost to the Argentine in his professional career.

The nine-time Rome winner slumped 6-2, 7-5 on a humid night in the Italian capital to a player he 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 title - a feat that would see him match Roger Federer's record of 20 grand slam singles titles.

"It's a completely special and unpredictable year," Nadal said.

"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."

Rafael Nadal is pictured here looking dejected at the Italian Open.
Rafael Nadal suffered a shock defeat at the Italian Open. Pic: Getty

Nadal pleased with progress in tennis comeback

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

Nadal beat fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, a US Open semi-finalist, 6-1, 6-1 in his first match this week followed by Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-3.

But Schwartzman pulled out a stunning performance to leave Nadal with no answer.

"After such a long time without competing, I played good two matches, and now today I played a bad one against a good opponent," Nadal said.

"It was not my night, at all," he said.

"Then we have to think internally why, how I can fix it."

Schwartzman, with just three career titles to Nadal's 85, said he had come close a few times to beating the Spaniard.

"I think four or five times I was close enough to feel like maybe if I play my best tennis I'm going to have chances," said the world number 15.

"Also, he was coming back this tournament after seven months, more or less, eight months.

"And I was thinking, OK, tennis, sometimes it's really crazy and I was not playing good, but today maybe I have the chance."

with AFP