"Rafael Nadal's looking to score at the French Open, anything before that is a bonus" - Jimmy Connors on road ahead for Spaniard after Brisbane exit
Rafael Nadal bowed out of the Brisbane International, his first competitive tournament in 12 months, with a three-set defeat in the quarterfinals against home favorite Jordan Thompson.
The Spaniard squandered three match point opportunities in the second set, before needing to call the trainer for muscle pain midway through the third. He went down 7-5, 6-7(6), 3-6 after spending over three hours on court.
The latest injury concern has cast a shadow of doubt over the Spaniard's participation at the Australian Open, due to start on January 14. Jimmy Connors, however, believes that the Spaniard is looking elsewhere for success.
During his latest appearance for the Advantage Connors podcast, the former World No. 1 said Nadal has his eyes set on the French Open and that anything before that is a bonus for him.
"Rafael Nadal's looking to score at the French Open, anything before that is a bonus," Jimmy Connors said (at 48.10). "You know whether it is the Australian Open or Wimbledon or whatever, Wimbledon is after, but Monte Carlo, he's looking to score in the French."
Connors added that he was also interested in seeing the kind of challenge that the younger generation led by Carlos Alcaraz put up against Nadal this year.
"And it is gonna be interesting to see how these young guys, you know, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas and all those guys tend to look at him when he comes in," Connors said (at 48.20).
"I think Rafael Nadal might still have that reputation" - Jimmy Connors on opponents' mental block against Spanaird
Jimmy Connors further claimed that several players used to have a mental block when playing against Rafael Nadal, where they simply did not believe they could beat someone like him. The former World No. 1 believes that that is unlikely to have faded away completely even after the Spaniard’s long absence from the tour.
"Yeah, you know and I look back because a lot of times you walk out there and you've won the match before you people walked on the court," Jimmy Connors said (at 48.30). "Yeah. And I think Rafael Nadal might still have that reputation."
"I think he's still has that, 'oh my god, he's back, oh, watch out, he's been out for a year you know you know sometimes you get a little twitchy'," he added (at 48.40).
Connors went on to say that any success before the French Open would bolster Nadal’s confidence, before reiterating that the claycourt Slam remains the main goal. He joked about the Spaniard having won what felt like “47” titles in Paris, and claimed that no one would ever break his record at the Slam.
"I think, you know, Australia if he has success there success and throughout Monte Carlo, and the clay, or Miami or whatever, I think his goal is the French Open and it if he wins another time, what would that be 47 times? Certainly a record that will never be broken," Jimmy Connors said (at 49.00).