Rafael Nadal is a perfectionist on court, but he's also a realist.

Video: Verdasco, Lopez, Bryan brothers Talk Texan

Asked to assess his form ahead of next week's Monte Carlo Masters, the nine-time French Open champion says he will launch the clay-season in maybe the worst form of his career.

“It’s a clay court season where perhaps I am arriving in the worst form of my career,” Nadal told Television Espanola today in comments published by Bloomberg. “I’m fifth in the rankings and it looks like I am going to carry on going down. My ranking position is based on these next six, seven or eight weeks and if I don’t manage to get better results then my ranking will suffer quite a lot."

Despite the fact he is defending nearly 4,000 ranking points during the upcoming clay season as the reigning Roland Garros and Madrid champion, Nadal said if he stays positive and regains confidence, he is optimistic he will return to form.

“[If I] think positively, do things well and recover all the confidence that I need to do succeed on court," Nadal said. "I think things will turn out well.”

In the aftermath of his third-round upset loss to Fernando Verdasco in Miami last month, Nadal said he has been practicing well, but conceded he was struggling with nerves during match play.

"It's not the question of tennis," Nadal said after falling in Miami. "The thing is the question of being relaxed enough to play well on court. Something, that if I tell you one month ago or one month and a half ago, I didn't have the game. Today my game in general improved since a month and a half. But at the same time, [I am] still playing with too much nerves for a lot of moments,in important moments, still playing with a little bit ofanxious on that moments."

Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson