Nadal: "I've been slow on court today, I'm tired"
ElPais
Rafael Nadal said after losing to Austria's Jurgen Melzer in the second round of the Shanghai Masters 1000 (6-1, 3-6, 6-3) that he felt "more slower on court" than usual, mentally and physically tired . "I was slow on court and made more mistakes than usual and I played shorter. I was also more tired than normal, physically and mentally," said world number one. Nadal said he decided to play in Bangkok and add that tournament to his Asian tour to start the season because "I did not know if I would win the U.S. Open."
"I was about to play twice in Bangkok in the past and I did not. For me it was impossible to say no again. I felt I had to go and went. It is difficult to predict that if I had not played in Bangkok I would have done better here. It would be stupid" he said. "I did not play in Rotterdam this year because I was injured. I did not play in Barcelona and it worked well for the rest of the season. I came to Toronto and Cincinnati in not good form because I barely had time to train but I won there, and it finally worked at the U.S. Open" he said.
"But I'm happy for the Asian tour, I won a tournament and that is the most important thing to me, because the titles always remain and the rest is forgotten," added Nadal which again talked about his physical condition. "I have come to the latter part of the season playing well but perhaps a little more tired than usual," he said. "But the good work of the year is done, and I'm very happy for everything that has happened to me this year. Now I have two tournaments and I have to enjoy them and play better than today."
"I hope that the two and a half weeks that I have to rest I can recover a bit. I need to train physically and play tennis again, adjust my shots and be physically better than in the past three tournaments," said Nadal who made clear his enthusiasm for doing well in London at the Masters. "I have two good goals, finishing the season well and try to play much better this year in London, compared to last year. Maybe it will not be that difficult (he did not win a single set), to not play better, but have best results" he said of the appointment at the O2.
"The public there was fantastic, unbelievable. The atmosphere on court was very nice. When you walk on court you realize that is probably the most pleasant indoor tournament in which I played. It can be compared a little with Madrid" he said.
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