'It Was So Close I Thought It Was Going To Hit The Net, But It Didn’t,' Says Nadal


INDIAN WELLS, CA—In an interview following his 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Ernests Gulbis at the BNP Paribas Open, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal recounted hitting a shot during the second set Thursday that went super low over the net. “That shot was a very close one,” said Nadal, who explained that he kept thinking “clear the net, clear the net” right up until the tennis ball made it over the net. “When you hit a shot that low to the net, of course you worry it will hit the net and not go over. And sometimes the ball even hits the white part and still goes over, but not always. This time I got lucky because it didn’t even hit the white part—it was just really super low.” Nadal added that he was also pleased when the ball he had hit over the net landed so far in-bounds that it wasn’t even on the line.