Rafael Nadal isn’t going to let his recent difficulties on clay dampen his enthusiasm for the biggest events of the season. The Spaniard, who fell in semi-final action at Monte-Carlo to Fabio Fognini and then at Barcelona to Dominic Thiem, says he is gaining confidence despite what many perceive to be surprising losses.

"After this week, my confidence is back," Nadal said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. "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 believes he has made significant strides since Monte-Carlo, where he gave a particularly scathing assessment of his form in his straight-sets loss to Fabio Fognini in the semi-finals.



With a week off before next week’s Madrid Masters, expect Nadal to be in a more ferocious mindset as he begins the final leg of his Roland Garros preparation.

The hunger will certainly be there.

Nadal has not entered the month of May without a title on the year since 2004, and he has recently given up ground to two of his biggest clay rivals. Fognini became just the fourth player to own three or more wins over Nadal on clay while Thiem became just the second player to reach four wins against Nadal on clay.

Players to defeat Rafael Nadal four times or more on clay

Novak Djokovic 7
Dominic Thiem 4

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) April 27, 2019