World number five Rafael Nadal said that he’s happy about his performance at the VTR Open in Vina del Mar, Chile this week. Despite having lost his singles and doubles title matches on Sunday, the 11-time Grand Slam champion said that he now has a better perspective as to where his body and game is going.
“A week ago we didn’t know how the body would respond,” he said.
“[Now] at least I know we can compete at a certain level. I think that was a positive week… I will try to keep improving my physical sensations day by day, which is the most important thing because I don’t feel that my tennis level is bad. I need more time on court,” he added.
Nadal said that the affected knee that sidelined for more than seven months still bothers him but he’s working hard to overcome this.
The Spaniard, considered as the “King of Clay” has just lost his fifth match on a claycourt final when he succumbed to Horacio Zeballos in three sets. Zeballos is just the third player to have beaten Nadal in a claycourt final with the first two honors going to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
