After his semifinal loss to Rafael Nadal at the China Open in Beijing, Fabio Fognini tells reporters that he has nothing but respect for the 14-time major champion. Things are good between them. he says. But they may not be so good between Fabio and Nadal's coach, Uncle Toni Nadal.

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Fognini says that the altercation the pair had in Hamburg is in the past, and Nadal verified that sentiment. But Fognini did mention that there is some history with Uncle Toni.

“What happened in Hamburg is past, for sure,” the Italian said. “But I have nothing to say with him. I have all respect with him outside and inside the court. I was telling another time, the history was not against him, but against his team, especially the uncle."

Before he could elaborate, Fognini said he’d rather just talk about tennis.

“If I have to do something, I do it in the moment,” he said. “If I do it wrong, I say, Sorry. If I'm right, I'm right, and that's it.”

He added: “This is not the question I have to answer you. I prefer talking about tennis.”

Fognini also explained that his racquet toss during Saturday’s semifinal that nearly hit a linesperson was completely unintentional. The racquet appeared to slip out of his hand as he swung it in anger, and later TV cameras caught Uncle Toni’s reaction to Fognini complaining about it.

“No, that was not voluntary, for sure, otherwise was really bad,” Fognini said. “I was finish the forehand and I was doing like this, but [the racquet ended up moving] directly to him. I apologize.”

Despite an uncharacteristically curt post-match handshake that did not go unnoticed by the Twitterverse, Nadal reinforced the notion that there’s no bad blood between himself and Fognini.

“No rivalry at all,” he said, emphasizing. “No, no, no. I don't know what's going on, seriously. We had the issue that we had in Hamburg, and that's it. No problems. At the US Open, no problems. No problems today. Very easy match in terms of attitude for both of us. No problem at all. Very, very easy I think for the umpire.”