Hamburg, July 26 (IANS) Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal on Sunday said ahead of the Bet-At-Home Open here that he was feeling well and had to accept the fact that he had lost more matches in the past six months than in the previous 11 years.
“I feel good, there are no problems. I look forward to this week,” Efe quoted world No.10 Nadal as saying.
Summer tournaments are usually for relaxing and preparing for the toughest stretch of the season, but “it’s obvious that the situation is different” this year, the 29-year-old said.
“I need to accept that it is a new situation and face it with a good attitude and keep working hard to return to a good level,” the 14-time Major singles titles winner said.
“I’ve lost more than in the last 10 or 11 years,” Nadal said, referring to his 12 losses this year.
Nadal acknowledged that his loss to German journeyman Dustin Brown at the Wimbledon was “tough,” but he said life goes on and sports are all about winning and losing.
“I am very happy to be back in Hamburg, I haven’t been here since 2008, so it’s great to be back in such a nice city. I have great memories about this tournament,” Nadal said.
“I think probably defeating Carlos Moya in 2003 was a very important match for me at the time, but also I remember very well the match against Novak (Djokovic) in 2008, which was very emotional.”
Nadal will play countryman Fernando Verdasco in the first round.