Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman feels it is crucial to have the belief of winning against Rafael Nadal on clay. Nadal has an unprecedented record of 104-2 at Roland Garros and a lot of players succumb to the pressure before facing the king of clay.

Schwartzman, who hasn’t yet dropped a single set on his way to the quarters, stated that one has to believe of beating Rafael Nadal before entering the court. In fact, Schwartzman had defeated Nadal on clay in the quarterfinals of Italian Open 2020 and that win must have given him a lot of confidence.

However, Nadal is an absolute beast at Roland Garros and there is no doubt that the Argentine will have a tough task to go past the Spaniard.

“I think at the beginning of every match against Rafa, you have to walk on the court thinking [about] winning the match, to have opportunities, to get opportunities,” Schwartzman said. “[It is important to] think about something else and not think about Rafa [being] on the other side of the net.”

The 28-year old added that one has to stay in the right frame of mind and be positive while playing against the defending champion.

“If you think about the four, five hours you are going to play, if you think about everything about Rafa in Roland Garros, he’s very difficult to play,” Schwartzman said. “You have to go on court, think about the tactics, think about how to play your best game.”

Diego added that it is imperative to get off to a good start and he admitted that it is going to be a difficult task to get past the lefty.

“I think it’s very important not just for me, just also for Rafa when the opponent starts with good tennis, the match is going to [go] a different way,” Schwartzman said. “It’s always tough. But at the end it’s Rafa and you never know what is going to happen, and everyone knows that it’s going to be very difficult.”

Schwartzman will face Rafael Nadal in the quarters at Philippe Chartier from 5:00 PM IST on 9th June.