Are you wondering, like so many other tennis fans, if the king of clay is back? Join the club. But we warn you, Rafael Nadal is not going to be with you. He says every year is different and every feeling is different.
More: Nadal Dedicates Monte-Carlo to Late Grandfather
What’s important, Nadal says, is improvement.
Here’s a classically Nadal quote from after his semifinal victory over Andy Murray in Monte-Carlo. We will run the snippet from his transcript because every word is JUST. SO. PERFECT.
Q. You had three convincing matches against three very good players in a row. Do you feel you're back at the top of your game on clay now?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't want to talk every day about if I am back or I am not back. That's the real thing, no? Is something that I don't think about. I am what I am today. I'm in the final of Monte-Carlo. That's a great news. That's a very important week for me, no? Rafael Nadal of 2016 will not be the same of 2009 or 2008 again. Every year is different. Every feeling is different. I don't want to compare myself or trying to analyze if I am the same like before or not. I am trying my best every single day. I want to be today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today, and after tomorrow better than tomorrow. That's it. That's my work today, and that's my motivation. I don't want to think about the past.”
We may not know if the king of clay is back, but we do know that Nadal’s once-sagging confidence is puffing up again. That is a very good thing for the king of clay.
“It is Important for me to accumulate weeks in a row playing at this good level,” he said. “It's a very important week for me, being in a final here again in Monte-Carlo, winning against very tough opponents. That's a lot of great confidence, good news for me.”