Nadal Thrilled to Be Improving

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Nadal Thrilled to Be Improving

Rafael Nadal lost for the seventh consecutive time against Novak Djokovic on Friday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and in those seven matches he hasn’t won a single set. And yet Nadal was quite satisfied with his state of affairs after being edged in straights by the World No. 1, 7-5, 7-6(4).

Match Summary: Djokovic Fights off Nadal in Rome Thriller

“The only thing that I think is I have been very, very, very close this afternoon, and that's positive,” Nadal said on Friday.

Nadal didn’t win on Friday, but clearly he’s moving in the right direction after a long, cloudy period of doubt. On Friday Nadal dictated to Djokovic more than he has in a long time, and though he was unable to convert on any of his five set points, his confidence only seems to be growing.

“Overall I am playing well,” he said. “As I said before, I have been competing at the highest level against the best player. Play a match like this, best player of the world, that's the only thing that give me the confidence that I am ready...”

Nadal will now begin his final phase of preparations for the main event, so that he may put his best foot forward in Paris as he bids for a record tenth Roland Garros title. With nine days left to go, the soon to be 30-year-old is in far better form than he was demonstrating two months ago, before he had won titles in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.

“I think he's been playing much better than he did in clay court season last year, which, you know, you can see by the results that he had,” Novak Djokovic said. “He won Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, he won many matches on clay courts, start to feel more comfortable on the court. He misses less and he's more aggressive, so I think I won against a Nadal that played on a high level today, and that's definitely giving me satisfaction.”

That leaves one winner, but two satisfied players in this match. Chalk it up to relativity. Slowly but surely, the king of clay is starting to resemble his old, daunting self.

How will he look in Paris?

After today’s performance at Rome, it’s something that we’re all excited to find out.

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