“RAFA” RAFAEL NADAL LOSES ON MADRID’S CLAY IN THE FINALS AND DROPS OUT OF TOP FIVE! YIKES THAT’S SCARY SEEDING COMING INTO THE SLAMS

Written by: Staff on 11th May 2015

"RAFA" RAFAEL NADAL LOSES ON MADRID'S CLAY IN THE FINALS AND DROPS OUT OF TOP FIVE! YIKES THAT'S SCARY SEEDING COMING INTO THE SLAMS

epa04742100 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal hits the ball against British Andy Murray during the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open tournament's final match in Madrid, Spain, 10 May 2015. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN |

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal hits the ball against British Andy Murray during the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open tournament’s final match in Madrid, Spain, 10 May 2015. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN

Nine times French Open champion Rafael Nadal has fallen to the no.7 spot in today’s Emirates ATP World Tour rankings, his lowest position for more than a decade. However with the start of Roland Garros less than two weeks away, the former world no.1 tried to put on a brave face following his emphatic final defeat at the Mutua Madrid Open by Andy Murray.

The last time Nadal was not a member of the world’s top five was May 2, 2005 and Murray became only the fourth player to beat him in a clay court final after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and current world no.143 Horacio Zeballos in the 2013 Vina del Mar event in Chile.

“It’s been complicated today,” admitted Nadal after losing 6-3, 6-2 to Murray. “It’s not the day I was expecting. The match started badly. After that, I lost the rhythm of the game.

“I tried until the very end. I think the attitude was there. During every single moment, I was fighting and trying to give the maximum. It’s one of those days where things just didn’t work out.”

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal serves against British Andy Murray during the Mutua Madrid Tennis Open tournament’s final match in Madrid, Spain, 10 May 2015. EPA/CHEMA MOYA

However Nadal, who certainly looked back to his best in the semi-final win over Tomas Berdych insisted: “I cannot leave Madrid not happy. I have to leave happy and just delete what happened today. I will just stay with the good things that happened this week, and there are a lot of them, more good than bad. I will try to recover the good feelings in Rome.

“I think I’ve made a step forward and I’m playing better. I haven’t been able to play two weeks in a row, well, in the whole year. I think it’s time that I play two weeks in a row. Let’s see what happens next week in Rome. Hopefully I’ll be focused and fight as much as I can to make [it] a good week.”

Nadal has a further 600 ranking points to defend at Rome’s Foro Italico after reaching last year’s final where he lost to Djokovic. He is in Stan Wawrinka’s quarter of the draw and Roger Federer’s half.

The Majorcan continued: “I’ll try to have a good week in Rome, and by a good week, that does not mean only to win. It’s a very complicated tournament. We have the top players there, but I also know if I manage to play the level I did [Saturday] I can be competitive against every single player.

“Whatever will happen will be. It’s something that we have to realize, all of us, that what’s happening during these last years, it’s very complicated to be ten or eleven years without leaving the Top Four.”

Story via Bob Larson news service.

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, King of Clay, Madrid final, MMOpen2015, Rafa, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

May 11, 2015 at 9:31 am

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