London, June 17 (IANS) Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal has said the first round loss at Aegon Championships has not dented his confidence for Wimbledon, which starts from Monday.
“This week I lost an opportunity but my feeling, my thoughts are no different today than yesterday. I am playing better than before and enjoying my tennis more on court than before. I will keep going, keep practising hard. I hope to be ready to play well at Wimbledon,” Nadal was quoted as saying by theguardian.com on Tuesday.
“It’s a loss, I think I didn’t play bad at all,” he said after the loss to World No. 79 Alexandr Dolgopolov who clinched the encounter 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes.
“I fought until the end,” he said.
“He played well and he was a little bit better than me but I cannot say I am very sad the way that I played. (There is) nothing very negative, (after) winning a tournament last week (at Stuttgart).”
Among the audience who witnessed Nadal’s failure on Tuesday were Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho and former king of Spain Juan Carlos, but Nadal insisted they did not hamper his focus on the game.
“I have a great relationship with the king. I have a very good relationship with Jose, too. It is good to have the support of the crowd, but it’s not an inspiration, not an extra pressure. I play my game. I try to do my best in every single match of the year and not try to be better if there is somebody or not on the crowd,” he said.
The 29-year-old also deflected a suggestion that Mourinho might have been in a position to give him advice.
“He’s a football manager. He’s one of the best of the world. And I have my team. I will never give him advice on football and probably he will not be giving me advice on tennis,” he said.