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Rafael Nadal has defeated Daniel Brands of Germany in the first round of the ongoing French Open. Nadal won the match in four sets by 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-3.

Nadal was expected to secure an easy win against a player who was much lower in world rankings than him, but, that didn’t quite happen. The German youngster didn’t let Nadal walk away with easy points. He matched the Spanish superstar shot for shot in the first couple of sets. However, he lost his focus in the last two sets and ended up losing the match.

In the post match interview, Brands said, “When you face a great player like Rafa, you need to play well right through the match. You can’t afford to relax even for a single second when you are up against him. I started well, but, lost my way after the second set and the match slipped away from me.”

In the first set, both the players held their serve in the first 8 games. Brands got a breakthrough in the 9^th game to get ahead by 5-4 and then, held his serve in the 10^th game to seal the set by 6-4.

In the second set, there were no breakthroughs in the first 12 games and the scorecard was showing 6-6 when the 12^th game got over. The set was extended to the tie breaker in which Nadal had a poor start. He got down by 0-3, but, he recovered well from there and won 7 out of the next 8 points to win the tie breaker and the second set as well.

In the third set, Nadal broke Brands’ serve in the very first game and served out the next game to take a lead of 2-0. Thereafter, he just held his remaining serve and won the set by 6-4

Nadal continued playing fluently in the fourth set as well. With a couple of serve breaks, he sealed it by 6-3 and wrapped up the match.

In the next round, Nadal will face Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

Rafael Nadal has been defeated by the no. 1 player in the world Novak Djokovic in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 7-6(1).

Nadal had been winning the title at Monte Carlo since the last 8 years. But, his winning streak here was ended yesterday by Djokovic.

In the post match interview, Djokovic said, “Well, it’s really an achievement to defeat Rafa in the finals here. His record has been emphatic in this tournament over the years and I knew that it was going to be a big challenge for me. But, I backed myself and tried to play to my strengths.”

“At one point of time, I was thinking about withdrawing from this tournament. But, eventually, I decided to take part and that, I think, was a great decision.”

In the first set, Djokovic came all guns blazing. He broke Nadal’s serve in the 2^nd and the 4^th game and raced to a lead of 5-0. Nadal tried to pull things back with a serve hold in the 6^th game and a serve break in the 7^th game, but, he was pushed so much back initially that even that breakthrough didn’t help him. Djokovic just needed one more serve hold which he got in the 8^th game and with that, he sealed the first set by 6-2.

The second set had a lot of excitement in it. First Nadal got a breakthrough in the 5^th game and then, held his serve in the next game to take a 4-2 lead. But, Djokovic broke back in the 8^th game to make it even-stevens again.

Nadal again got a breakthrough in the 11^th game to get ahead by 6-5, but, he was loose on his serve in the next game and he was broken back for the second time in the set. The scores were tied and the set went into the tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Djokovic got mini breaks early and won it in no time to become the champion.

Rafael Nadal has won the BNP Paribas Open by defeating Juan martin Del Potro of Argentina in the final. Nadal won the match by 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Nadal took 2 hours and 29 minutes to win his third title in a row.

This was the 11^th time that Nadal was facing Del Potro. He had defeated the Argentinean 7 times before this match.

After winning the tournament, Nadal said, “I am really overwhelmed at the moment. I had thought that it would take me a while to get back to my best after my comeback. But, it hasn’t taken me too much time. I am really very happy at this point of time.”

“To win three back to back tournaments after making a comeback from such a nasty injury is really something which is hard to believe. I hadn’t expected myself to win so many titles this early in the season.”

“I would also like to thank my fans. I have got great support from them since my comeback and fortunately, I have stood up to their expectations.”

Nadal had a poor start in this match. He lost the opener and dropped his serve in the first game of the second set. He was down by 0-2 in the second set, but, after that, he made an impressive comeback.

Nadal admitted that he was a bit nervous in the first set. The Spaniard said, “At the start of the match, I was a bit tensed and I was trying to play too aggressively. That was why I was mistiming my shots. In the second set, I calmed myself and that helped.”

This is the third time that Nadal has won BNP Paribas Open. Because of this title victory, his world ranking has improved. He has now become the no. 4 player in the world.

Rafael Nadal has been in fine form since making his comeback to the tennis arena after a gap of 8 months. He reached the finals of the VTR Open and then, he went on to win the Brazil Open. He is currently playing in Abierto Mexicano Telcel and he is doing well in this tournament as well. He defeated Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in the quarter finals yesterday and made his way into the final 4.

Mayer was beaten in the straight sets by Nadal. The Spanish superstar won the match by 6-1, 7-5.

After winning the match, Nadal said, “It’s great that I am winning matches regularly after the comeback. I am getting more confident with each win. Hopefully, I would play well in the next two matches as well and would win my second consecutive title.” Continue reading NADAL BACK TO HIS BEST

Rafael Nadal has made it clear that he will participate in the Chilean Open which is going to be played next month. It will be Nadal’s comeback tournament. The Spanish superstar has been out of action since a long time because of the knee injury.

Although, Nadal recovered from knee injury towards the end of last year and had announced that he would participate in the Australian Open but, he couldn’t do that because of stomach illness.

But, yesterday, after his practice session, Nadal told the reporters that his fitness is fine and he is ready to make a comeback.

Nadal said, “I am very happy to inform you all that I am going to take part in the Chilean Open next month. I want to thank the organizers for inviting me to play in that tournament. They have told me that I have got a lot of fans in Chile, so, it will be good fun playing in that country. Hopefully, I will do well and will go all the way to win the tournament.”

“My fitness is very good at the moment. I have got rid of stomach illness and my knee is also fine. I am really happy with the way things have gone in the last one week. I have had some good practice sessions.”

“It’s really disappointing that I couldn’t take part in the Australian Open because of stomach illness. But, that’s life. Now, I don’t want to think about what happened in the last few months. There are quite a few tournaments coming up and I am looking forward to those tournaments.”

Nadal will slip down in world rankings after the Australian Open. When asked about that, Nadal said, “I have been out since quite a while. So, it was expected that my ranking would fall down. But, I am not upset about that. The rankings can change quickly. All I need to do is to perform consistently in a couple of tournaments and my ranking will go up again.”

Rafael Nadal has withdrawn his name from the Mubadala Tennis Championship which is going to be played at Abu Dhabi because of stomach problem. Nadal has been out of action since a long time and his fans were eagerly waiting for his comeback. But, they have to wait a bit more. On the place of Nadal, his compatriot, Nicolas Almagro, will take part in this tournament.

Nadal has made it clear that he is not withdrawing his name because of the knee injury. His knee is absolutely fine, but, he has discovered a stomach problem all of a sudden and because of that, he will not be able to participate in this exhibition tournament at Abu Dhabi.

Talking to the reporters, Nadal said, “I have been waiting for this tournament for a while. I desperately wanted to play at Abu Dhabi. But, unfortunately, I will have to miss yet another tournament. This time, it’s not because of knee injury. I have got a stomach problem which has forced me to withdraw my name from this event.”

When asked if his knee is completely fit, Nadal said, “Yes, I have recovered from the knee injury completely. There is no need to worry about that. I have not felt pain in my knee since the last few weeks. I can jump and bend my knee without any trouble.”

When asked how frustrating it is to miss one tournament after other, Nadal said, “It’s just a terrible feeling. I just can’t tell you how disappointed I am at this point of time. I was really excited about playing in Abu Dhabi.”

On the other hand, Nicolas Almagro was ecstatic to be a part of this tournament. He said, “It’s a great tournament. I am very happy to be a part of it. There are some world class players participating in this event and I will have to play out of my skins if I have to beat them and win this tournament.”