Rafael Nadal has conducted a candid interview with Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung about the worst moment of his career as he looks ahead to the 2016 season.
The 9-time French Open champion recounted his 2014 Australian Open clash against Stan Wawrinka. The Spaniard was bidding to claim his first title in Melbourne since 2009 but fall short against a sublime Wawrinka as he struggled with a back problem. Reflecting back on the match, Nadal classed it as the worst moment of his career.
“That was one of the toughest defeats of my career. Because I was in a very important final and I was injured (my back). I was not really capable of competing. That was probably my worst hours on a tennis court in my career”. He said.
Speaking about the man he lost to in 2014, Nadal called Wawrinka’s French Open triumph the biggest surprise of 2015. The world No.6 was complimentary towards the Swiss No.2 by labelling his performance at the French Open ‘amazing’.
This season has been a roller-coaster encounter for Nadal, who slid down the rankings to 10th in June, his lowest ranking for ten years. So far in 2015 Nadal has won two ATP 250 tournaments and one 500 tournament. In the Grand Slams the World No.6 has failed to reach the last semifinals of any tournament, with his best performance being a quarterfinalist in the Australian Open and the French Open. It is the first year that Nadal hasn’t reached the last four in at least one Grand Slam since 2004. Talking about his slow start to 2015, Nadal admitted that he was plagued by anxiety.
“I played in the first few months of the season long with feelings of anxiety. These are now gone, and that’s the most important”. The world No.6 admitted.
“I had struggled to control my emotions, which was new to me. But that is part of the experience, and I had to deal with that”. He added.
The inability to control his emotions resulted in Nadal struggling to enjoy life on the tour. Fortunately, Nadal is starting to fall back in love with a sport where he currently has more Grand Slam titles than world No.1 Novak Djokovic (14 compared to 10). This resurgence has given Nadal a boost as he talks about next season.
“If you cannot control the emotions, it is not possible. But now I’m starting to enjoy it again. I see progress, and that motivates me to work hard”. A positive Nadal told the Swiss newspaper.
Nadal will compete in the Swiss indoors, which begins on Monday. He is the third seed behind Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. In the first round, he will play Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol followed by a potential second round encounter with Grigor Dimitrov. The defending champion is Roger Federer, who will be bidding to win the title for the seventh time of his career.
