Rafael Nadal has refused to be negative after the first week of his beloved clay court season ended prematurely with an unexpected loss to Dominic Thiem at the Argentina Open.
Known as ‘The King of Clay’, Nadal has won 47 titles on the surface, including a record breaking nine French Open titles. Despite the outstanding record, Nadal failed to match up against an impressive Thiem in Argentina on Saturday after being edged out in a final set tiebreaker. The loss to the world No.19 follows Nadal’s first round exit at last month’s Australian Open. Despite the duo of disappointments for a player of Nadal’s Calibre, the 29-year-old is not worried about his current level of play.
“It was a tough match. I had a chance to win and missed it but Thiem played well,” said Nadal.
“I’m not worried. I just lacked consistency and need to make fewer unforced errors, but that’s nothing”. He added.
The loss in Argentina has ended Nadal’s 47-match winning streak against players under the age of 22 on clay. It is also the first time that Nadal has lost a final set tiebreak on clay since the 2003 Bastad Open (Nicolas Lapentti).
The recent losses might be disheartening for the Spaniard, however, 2016 has also seen triumph for Nadal. At the start of the year he produced wins over David Ferrer and Milos Raonic to win the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Then a week later he reached the final of the Doha Open, losing in straight sets to world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
Nadal is only six weeks into the 2016 tennis season and he has already been on an emotional roller coaster. The next test for him will be at the upcoming Rio Open, which begins on Monday. Similar to the Argentina Open, he will be the top seed. Last year at the tournament Nadal suffered a semifinal loss to Italy’s Fabio Fognini. Looking ahead to the tournament, the 29-year-old admitted that it will be tough conditions for him.
“I struggled a bit to adapt to the extreme conditions here (in Argentina). I felt more tired than usual. I know that in Rio de Janeiro it’s not going to be better, so I must continue to adapt.” Nadal said.
The first test in Nadal’s Rio quest will be against fellow countryman Pablo Carreño Busta. Busta is currently ranked 64th in the world and recently reached the quarterfinals of the Ecuador Open. It will be the second time that the two men have played each other on the tour this year. In their first encounter at last month’s Doha Open, Nadal came from a set down to win 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1.
