Rafael Nadal has been searching for his confidence for the entirety of the European clay season. As he heads into the French Open, suffice it to say the search continues.
Nadal lost his fifth clay-court match of the 2015 season Friday, squandering four set points in a 7-6 (7), 6-2 loss to Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open. Wawrinka, who is going through a divorce, came into the match having won only seven of his previous 12 matches.
After loss to Rafael Nadal in Rome, John Isner quickly names Novak Djokovic as French Open favorite
Nadal, meanwhile, hasn't lost five matches during the clay season since his rookie campaign 12 years ago. His current No. 7 world ranking is his lowest since 2005.
And while he still is the five-time defending French Open champion with nine titles at Roland Garros in the last 10 years, Nadal sounds like a man that understands his reign in France could be comng to a close.
Rafa gets defensive when asked about falling out of the top four?
"I'm going to be ranked lower than ever playing Roland Garros, so that will mean the chance to play against very tough opponents," Nadal said, according to ATPWorldTour.com. "At the same time, if I go to Roland Garros and I lose and I don't play well, life continues. It's not the end of the world."
He continued: "I won so many times there... It's normal that I could lose. Losing is part of life. I can be there, play bad and lose early, but I'm going to fight to change that and try to fight again to have a good tournament."
Nadal had at least one tournament during the clay-court season every year since 2005. But now he has won only once - at Buenos Aires in February - since winning the 2014 French Open.
"The only thing that I am sure of is I'm going to try," said Nadal. "The goal in Paris will always be the same one. I feel I'm playing well. I am confident that if I am able to play without nerves - I didn't play with nerves today, I didn't play with nerves most of the time the last three weeks, and that's the most important thing for me.
"If I am able to control that, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to fight for it."
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