dal to play with his old racquet in Madrid Masters

Madrid, May 4: Spain’s World No.4 tennis star Rafael dal has said he will be playing with his old racquet in the Madrid Masters and the rest of the season in an effort to regain shot control.

The 28-year-old switched to a new racquet to increase the power and spin on his shots at the last two tourments he played. “I changed because I believe that in the end, I’d used this one for many years and practiced very little with the new one, and it’s the one I need. I had only a few days to prepare with it before Monte Carlo,” dal said on Sunday. The Madrid Open, a Masters 1000 event, is being played at the Caja Magica.

dal said the fact that Serbian World No.1 Novak Djokovic would not be at the Caja Magica “opens the door for other players.”

“This is an opportunity to win a big tourment. It doesn’t mean that you can’t win other tourments when he’s here, because you can’t win all the tourments,” dal said.

The Madrid Open is one of the biggest clay-court events on the tennis calendar and a key tune-up for the French Open, which starts on May 24. IANS