Rafael Nadal has said he is gaining confidence on clay ahead of the Madrid Open after a turbulent start to his Roland Garros preparations.
The 17 time grand slam champion is looking to gain momentum in Madrid after a tricky start to his favourite time of year on the red dirt.
It will be the first time since 2004 that Nadal has entered Madrid without winning a title in a season after failing to dominate Monte-Carlo or Barcelona.
Although in both of those tournaments he lost to the eventual champions, Fabio Fognini and Dominic Thiem, the Spaniard will be looking for an improvement this week.
However it seems the world number two is in confident shape as he bids for a sixth title in the Spanish capital, “My confidence is back, I really believe that I made very good improvements to create a good base to try to achieve my goals during the next couple of weeks,” Nadal said.
“Against Thiem, I played a good match. I was competitive and I enjoyed the match. I really felt competitive for the first time in a way that I want to feel myself. I am happy and I am confident that I made a big improvement.”
The Spaniard will start against either Denis Shapovalov or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the battle of the Canadians. After that his draw looks fairly routine as he would expect at minimum to reach the semi-final.
Here is Nadal’s projected draw, with his campaign likely to begin on Wednesday:
R2: Shapovalov/Auger-Aliassime
R3: Basilashvili
QF: Nishikori/Medvedev
SF: Zverev/Tsitsipas
F: Djokovic/Federer/Thiem
