Rafael Nadal: I Still Think I’m Playing Well And I Will Fight For Another French Open Title
Despite a crushing loss yesterday in the Rome quarterfinals to Stan Warwrinka, who he led 62 in the first set tiebreaker, Rafael Nadal is still trying to remain positive ahead of the biggest event of the year for the Spaniard.
“The only thing that I am sure of is I’m going to try,” said Nadal. “The goal in Paris will always be the same one. I feel I’m playing well. I am confident that if I am able to play without nerves – I didn’t play with nerves today, I didn’t play with nerves most of the time the last three weeks, and that’s the most important thing for me.
“If I am able to control that, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to fight for it.”
Nadal will go into the French Open seeded no higher than No. 7 (No. 8 if David Ferrer beats Novak Djokovic today), which could put him against a Big 3 in the quarterfinal.
“I’m going to be ranked lower than ever playing Roland Garros, so that will mean the chance to play against very tough opponents,” Nadal said. “At the same time, if I go to Roland Garros and I lose and I don’t play well, life continues. It’s not the end of the world.
“I won so many times there,” he added. “It’s normal that I could lose. Losing is part of life. I can be there, play bad and lose early, but I’m going to fight to change that and try to fight again to have a good tournament.”
Nadal is 17-5 this year on the clay, which is more than he lost from 2006-2010.
Nadal has lost more matches on clay in 2015 than he lost on clay in the five- year period from 2006 to 2010
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) May 15, 2015
This is also the first time since 2004 Nadal goes into the French Open without a European clay title on the season.
“I know I can play well in Paris,” he told tennisworldusa.com. “The center court is bigger there, the ball bounces higher like I like it. I am sure if I can play well I still have a shot at winning, and I am confident I can do it.”
The French Open begins a week from tomorrow.
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