PHOTOS/VIDEO: 2022 Indian Wells Masters SF Rafael Nadal vs. Carlos Alcaraz

2022 Indian Wells Masters SF Rafael Nadal bt. Carlos Alcaraz  6-4 4-6 6-3

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Rafael Nadal: "I am super happy to be in the final. It means a lot to me, and I'll just keep going."

"I took it like another semi-final match. He's not a young player that is 100 in the world and is coming. He is a top player already, so I treated it like that, playing against one of the best players in the world. It doesn't matter if he's young or not, he's a great guy, an amazing player and he has a fantastic future. I treated it like this, just tried to go on court, try my best and accept all the challenges. I am through and it was a very important victory for me."

"The wind slowed down a little bit, and then I knew I needed to do something because in the second, everything was so difficult. If I went to the net, then it was so difficult to manage with the volleys. When the wind stopped a little bit, I thought I needed to play aggressive, because if not, Carlos was going to go for the shots and then it was going to be in his hands. I tried to play more aggressive, it worked well."

"I think he started playing amazing. I was playing well at the beginning, it was just so difficult to stop him with his amazing shots. But then I think after [those] first 15 minutes of the match, I can't say I was under control, because it's impossible to be under control against a player like him. Then I made a couple mistakes there and then the set [got] complicated.

"But in the second, the conditions became crazy, honestly. It's not funny playing [with] this wind. Even if it's sometimes a challenge, I can enjoy that. But in terms of tennis, it's okay. In terms of stopping all the time because [of] the net, [that] was not good.

In the third, I think I played much better. I played more aggressive. It's true that I saved a couple of balls, but he played some great points too, saving amazing balls.

Mentally I was there the whole time. I think I fought. I believed, facing some very difficult situations during the match. Anything could have happened but I am in the final and it means a lot to me.”

“Since the beginning of the season it has been amazing all the things that have happened. A couple of months ago I didn’t know if I would be able to play professional tennis again, and here I am after a month and a half enjoying every single day.” 

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