After his least successful 12 months since he won the first of his 66 singles titles 11 years ago, Rafael Nadal revealed yesterday that he had set himself modest targets for the rest of 2015. Admitting that he did “not care much” whether or not he was in contention for the year's remaining two Grand Slam titles, the Spaniard said on his return to the Aegon Championships that his main aims were to stay fit and healthy and to qualify for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Having missed most of the second half of last year because of a wrist injury and appendicitis, Nadal has struggled to rediscover his best form. He lost his French Open title earlier this month, has won only two minor tournaments since last summer and is down at No 10 in the world rankings, his lowest position for more than 10 years.
“I want to play a full season,” Nadal said. “I am confident that I can have a much better second half of the season than I did in the first six months. I have the motivation to do it and I feel my mentality and my body are ready for it. If I'm able to play the full season, I hope to finish in a good position in the rankings and then have the chance to start 2016 stronger. It's much easier to start another year stronger if you haven't had to stop than when you come back after six months not playing tennis. That's what happened this year.
He added: “I've won enough Grand Slams in my career. Fourteen Grand Slams is enough. I will keep trying my best.”
Nadal, who plays his opening match this afternoon against Alexandr Dolgopolov, won Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010 but has suffered early defeats in his last three appearances to Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis and Nick Kyrgios. He is hoping a return to Queen's Club after a three-year absence will revive his fortunes. On his five previous appearances he went on to reach the Wimbledon final every time.
The Spaniard described his start to this year as “terrible” but said he had played better in the last six weeks and was enjoying his tennis again. He said winning the grass-court title in Stuttgart two days ago had been “very good news” and added: “My knees are fine. It's obvious that if my knees are fine I have chances to compete well and grass is probably the second surface [after clay] on which I've had more success in my career.”
One reason Nadal switched to playing at Halle in Germany rather than at Queen's was because of the taxes overseas competitors have to pay on their worldwide endorsement earnings while working in Britain. “I had to stop playing here for a while,” Nadal said. The tax burden was eased last year, though the Spaniard said it was “still not the ideal situation for us”.
On the opening day here James Ward took the first set off Milos Raonic before going down 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Everything went well for the Briton until he was broken in the eighth game of the second set. Raonic immediately took control of the decider by breaking serve in the opening game.
Lleyton Hewitt, who will retire after next year's Australian Open, was beaten 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 by South Africa's Kevin Anderson in his farewell appearance at the tournament. Hewitt, who failed to convert a match point when he served at 5-4 in the second set, was presented with a miniature version of the tournament trophy in recognition of his four title triumphs here.
Roger Federer went within two points of defeat in his first match in Halle before beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6, 3-6, 7-6. Kohlschreiber led 5-3 in the deciding tie-break.
Juan Martin del Potro, the former US Open champion, is to have a third operation on his left wrist. The 26-year-old Argentine has played only four matches in the last 16 months. – The Independent