Rafael Nadal, who suffered an upset defeat in the Rio Open semifinals over the weekend, on Monday said he was confident of taking another step toward recovering his best form in Buenos Aires this week.
The Spaniard, ranked fourth after Saturday’s loss to Fabio Fognini ended a run of 52 consecutive semifinal wins on clay, would make his bow in the second round of the Argentina Open at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club today.
“I’ve come here with a different motivation, because I’ve had a spell that wasn’t good for me because for the last seven months I’ve been fairly inactive and had complications,” Nadal told a news conference.
Photo: AFP / TELAM / ANALIA GARELLI
“I’m closer to the level I want to reach, which is why I feel I’m taking little steps forward and that’s good. Recovery is like a ladder which you don’t climb running, but rather step by step,” Nadal said.
The 28-year-old, back at the tournament in Buenos Aires 10 years after his first visit, lost the No. 1 ranking to Novak Djokovic last year after struggling with a right wrist injury.
Having won his ninth French Open title in June last year, Nadal withdrew from the US Open in August last year due to the injury, and lost to Tomas Berdych in the Australian Open quarterfinals last month.
The heat in the Argentine capital would be another test for Nadal after Rio de Janeiro, where Italian Fognini ended his defense of the title.
The Italian’s stunning victory ended Nadal’s winning streak in semifinals on clay and earned him a place in the final against another Spaniard, David Ferrer, whom he lost to on Sunday.
“Physically I’m good. In Rio de Janeiro, I don’t think I had a bad week. I won good matches and lost one which I shouldn’t have lost, although it’s also true that the timetable of the previous match was strange,” said Nadal, who complained of poor scheduling after Friday’s quarterfinal win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas finished at 3:30am on Saturday.
“I had cramps, which I’ve hardly ever had in my life and the truth is my opponent played better than me and made better use of the key moments. I’d have liked to have won there, but it didn’t happen,” he said.
No. 5-seeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina reached the second round of the Argentina Open on Monday, defeating Stephane Robert of France 6-0, 6-1.
In other first-round matches, unseeded Paolo Lorenzi defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1 and Juan Monaco beat fellow Argentine Maximo Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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