Devvarman recalls the 2011 BNP Pariban Open’ match against Rafael Nadal


Devvarman recalls the 2011 BNP Pariban Open’ match against Rafael Nadal

TENNIS MEN INDIAN

Image Credit: AFP

The Indian Tennis champion Somdev Devvarman recalled the match from 2011 BNP Paribas Open on a live session of Instagram, Novak advised him to target Rafael Nadal’s backhand .

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During the chat on the show ‘Host the Host’ anchored by Navneeth Krishna, the former World No. 62 disclosed many interesting bites about the Big 4 and how he spent times in close proximity with the farmed quartet.

While recalling, Somdev who retired from tennis in 2017 disclosed that his lone encounter with Rafael Nadal was the most memorable moment of his career, because of how he performed in that match.

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However, he also remembered how he desperately trying to decide right tactics for Nadal who was World No.1 that time, while Novak Djokovic came to him to give him last-minute advice when he was doing his pre-match stretches.

The 35-year-old was relishing a good spell of tennis as he made it to the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open for the first time by defeating Marcos Baghdatis.

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Novak Djokovic also encouraged him saying, “You know you can win this match, right?” Novak Djokovic had said. “Just to let you know, he’s (Nadal) got one of the worst backhands on the tour.”

While inferring that Nadal didn’t have lots of weakness, the Indian noted the suggestion and prepared himself for the match.

“I went in and obviously I had to play more towards the backhand than the forehand…and I think, you know, I played really well, lost 7-5, 6-4,” Somdev Devvarman said.

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Djokovic said, backhand of the 12-time French Open champion, ‘one of the worst backhands on tour’ as he was so convinced to break down the Nadal backhand and seems to be a liability to take advantage of.

“It gave me an insight into how the great guys think,” Devvarman said. “When Novak goes out and plays Rafa, I think a part of him believes that he actually has a really bad backhand and he can actually beat him by, you know, covering that side.”