Fernando Verdasco, who stunned Rafael Nadal in Miami, said that he was so excited going into the match that he didn’t even need to practice that morning. The 31-year-old is now 2-13 against the higher ranked Spaniard.
"Just the adrenaline and like everything," he said. "You don't even need to almost warm up. Just thinking about what kind of match are you going to play, your body is pumped, is ready for that. Of course you try to make some stretching, try to move a little bit, but you need it much less than in maybe an other match, a regular match."
Verdasco has been playing Nadal since the juniors, with their most memorable match a five-setter in the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open. The lower-ranked Spaniard enjoys the contests, even if he doesn't win most of them.
"So it's always like special mentality. That you are playing against one of the best. You don't have, at the end, nothing to lose. He's the one that normally, when you play not only with [Nadal], I say like when you play somebody like him, even with Roger [Federer] or Novak [Djokovic] or all these guys, normally they supposed to win against one player like me. So I just try to give my best."
A win only made it better. "Of course it's a huge victory," he said. "And it's always really nice."