Nadal refreshed for London bid after suffering hurtful defeats

RAFAEL Nadal will return to action at the O2 Arena refreshed and ready to take on the world’s best after dealing with the hurtful losses he suffered against Andy Murray and Florian Mayer last month.

The world No 2 appeared to have bounced back well from his US Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic with two thumping Davis Cup wins prior to heading to Asia.

He reached the final of the ATP World Tour event in Tokyo but was crushed 6-0 by Murray in the deciding set, winning only four points, before losing to German Mayer in the third round of the Masters event in Shanghai. Nadal cut a fairly forlorn figure as he departed China and opted to take a month off, meaning he will head into the showpiece Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London short on match action but with a positive mindset.

He said: “I played very good matches in the Davis Cup semi-final and after that I felt I was in good form. I went to Tokyo and I played a good tournament. In the last set against Andy I played bad but he played fantastic. It was hard.

“The loss in Shanghai was difficult for me. I had an opportunity to play a good tournament and I had a bad loss against Mayer. That hurt me a little bit and I felt I needed to stop, to practise a little bit and to recover physically and mentally.”

Nadal has been indisputably the second best player in 2011, but it is a year in which he will be remembered for losing six successive finals to Djokovic, including at Wimbledon and the US Open.

The Spaniard has been open about the psychological impact those defeats have had, but he was eager to stress beating Djokovic is not in any way an obsession. “All my life I’ve worked for myself, to improve myself,” he said. “It’s worked well for me and I’m not working every day thinking about Novak.

“Novak had an unbelievable year. Novak is not going to be at this level all his career and other people will have chances. He’s played a very high level, the highest level I have ever seen.”

With the Davis Cup final against Argentina still to come and this week’s tournament taking place on Nadal’s least favoured indoor hard courts, the 25-year-old could be forgiven for easing himself back in. Not a bit of it, though, Nadal insists, the world No 2 keen to replicate last year’s success here, which saw him reach the final before losing to Roger Federer. “I can be very motivated for Davis Cup and very motivated for here,” he said.

A round-robin group also containing Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and American Mardy Fish presents Nadal with a tough road to the semi-finals. He takes on Fish tomorrow.