Rafael Nadal shrugged off his 6-2, 6-0 defeat to Andy Murray at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships on Friday, insisting he will be fighting fit for Qatar next week.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner was making his first appearance since undergoing an appendectomy late last year having also missed most of the second half of last season with a wrist problem.
The Spaniard’s rustiness was obvious against Murray, who had played for more than two hours in seeing off Feliciano Lopez in his first match at the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament on Thursday.
Photo: Reuters
“This was not the best start possible against a tough rival in Andy Murray, but there are only small things I need to adjust,” the 28-year-old Nadal told the Gulf News. “6-2, 6-0 is too much. I had a lot of chances to have a closer result. I have to improve, that’s obvious, and I’m going to improve. This match helps me and the defeat does not affect me too much.”
“I felt I was dominating the points a lot of times, but I am missing competitive spirit. I am going to keep working hard to get that,” he added.
Murray was to face world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in yesterday’s final after the Serb eased past Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2.
“I have been working very hard on my speed and movement around the court — maybe that made the difference,” Murray said after his win over Nadal.
Wimbledon champion Djokovic was playing his first match in a month having completed his campaign last year by featuring in the International Premier Tennis League.
“I haven’t played in over a month, so to play at such a high level against such a class player was nice,” said the 27-year-old Djokovic, who won seven titles last year, including a seventh major at Wimbledon and the World Tour Finals in London.
Djokovic and Nadal are to open their competitive campaigns for this year at the Qatar Open in Doha from tomorrow.
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