For Rafael Nadal, his preparations for the upcoming US Open series has been more about recovery than training on the courts.
The world No.1 will return to action at the upcoming Rogers Cup in Toronto. A tournament he has won on three previous occasions with the most recent occurring in 2013. Nadal will be hoping to continue the momentum he has built on the tour heading into the final grand slam of the year in New York, where he is the defending champion. During the European clay court season, the Spaniard won 24 out of 25 matches played. Then at Wimbledon, Nadal made the semi-finals before going out to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Making it his best performance at The All England Club since 2011.
“I haven’t had big practices before I came here (to Canada). I’ve had a very long clay court season.” Nadal explained during the draw ceremony for the Rogers Cup.
“I’m feeling very happy, but I played a lot. I played a great Wimbledon again, some tough matches mentally and physically, and I needed to rest a little bit.”
Nadal resumed his training schedule less than two weeks ago in his native Mallorca where he has his own tennis academy. The world No.1 admits that his approach to the transition from grass to hard court’s are different to that of the past. Something he hopes will be a winning combination this year.
“I’m 32. It is not like that I need to be practising 100 per cent.” He stated.
“Now it is a little bit different, I take time off to recover my body physically and mentally.
“I hope to do the right thing to be very competitive for the hard court season.”
Targeting his fifth title of the year, Nadal will be hoping to make up for his shock loss at the Rogers Cup 12 months ago. In the third round he was stunned by wildcard entrant Denis Shapovalov, who prevailed 7-3 in the final set tiebreaker. That win was Shapovalov’s first and so far only victory over a top 10 player in his career.
“It was a tough loss for me at that moment because it was a chance for me to become world No.1 again.” Nadal reflected.
“It was a good match. He’s (Shapovalov) a great player. At that moment it looked like a bad loss for me because Dennis was not as well known (outside of the tour), but he played great.”
Granted a first round bye, Nadal will open up his campaign in Toronto against either Benoit Paire or Jared Donaldson. Then there is a chance he could play Stan Wawrinka or Nick Kyrgios in the following round.
“I cannot think about Wawrinka, Kyrgios, Joao [Sousa] before playing Benoit or a qualifier,” Nadal said.
“I know the first round is going to be a tough battle. But the full draw doesn’t distract me from being focused on that first round.
“I always take it match by match. That’s what I’ve done all my life. That’s the only way, in my opinion, to have success.
“You need to respect all opponents. In tennis, things change so quickly, so you need to be ready to accept both victories and losses.”
The Rogers Cup will get underway on Monday.
