Rafa Nadal wants to reignite his season in Cincinnati
Tuesday 18 August 2015 18:00, UK
Rafael Nadal is hoping to improve his up-and-down form this year in the second half of the season.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner struggled to make a significant impact at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon so far in 2015, failing to get past the quarter-final round at each event.
He aims to get back on track at the Cincinnati Masters, a tournament he won in 2013 to propel him to further glory at Flushing Meadows - and having won the Hamburg Open he hopes it is a positive omen.
Live ATP Masters Tennis
"I have been playing better than at the beginning of the season in the last couple of months," he told the ATP. "Even if I lost a few matches that I'm not happy with.
"I have been playing a bit better but every week is a different story - When you are coming from a bad moment, the work is triple.
When you are coming from a bad moment, the work is triple.
"It's much more mental than when you're in a normal situation or in a good dynamic. So that's what I'm accepting and doing to try to change the dynamic, and to try to feel more confident and comfortable on court.
"Obviously, the second part of the season is a little bit more difficult for me. We don't have clay out there.
"For me, more important than results, is finishing with the feeling that I did things better, that I was improving in my game."
The Spaniard is back up to world No 8 after a period two places below after winning a 67th career title in Hamburg but he couldn't continue that form at the Montreal Masters.
However, rather than accepting inferiority, Nadal believes his defeat to Kei Nishikori hinged on one critical point that he wasn't able to win.
He said: "The first six games of the match were very tough for me. In a normal situation I should go three-all, not 5-1, but that's what happened.
"At the end of the match I was closer, but he was better than me that day, especially in the key moments."
Watch Nadal at the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday from 4pm on Sky Sports 3. Not a Sky subscriber? Then watch it for £6.99 on NOW TV.
