Nadal, Federer, Murray Ready for Monte Carlo 1st RoundersPosted on April 13, 2009 While Roger Federer gets busy on his honeymoon (the AP reports even the ATP is unable to reach him) prior to the top seeds taking the court at the Masters Monte Carlo, fans await to see if the world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and Federer can take to the final again for a fourth consecutive year (with Nadal winning a fifth career Monte Carlo title?).
"I have to play good tennis if I want chances to win," Nadal told reporters Monday, struggling for some relevant things to say entering the claycourt season. "That's what I'm gonna try. I must play aggressive without a lot of mistakes." Nadal says that with the ATP calendar geared toward hardcourts, the claycourt season has becme a minor blip in his schedule. "In the last years I had very good results on clay," Nadal said. "But I only play three, four tournaments every year on it. The rest of the year I play on hard. It's always a change to adapt to clay, I need some days." Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray also spoke to the press Monday, with Djokovic somewhat struggling and Murray on a roll entering Monte Carlo. "I'm hitting the ball fine but takes time to get used to movement," said Murray, who won Miami and has hired claycourt specialist Alex Corretja onto his team to help with the transition. "I haven hit a ball on clay since the French last year so it been 10-11 months. I'm just getting used to sliding, not being 100 percent sure under your feet takes a bit of time." |
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