Nadal Still Streaking on Clay, but Eyeing U.S. Open
Sportsline.com
July 19th, 2005
STUTTGART, Germany -- Rafael Nadal is still busy in Europe showing he is the king of clay. That hasn't stopped the French Open champion from thinking ahead to the U.S. Open, however.
The 19-year-old Spaniard will try to win his sixth straight title on his favorite surface this week at the Mercedes Cup. In two weeks, Nadal leaves for Montreal and Cincinnati to ready himself on hard courts for the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 29.
"If I play good at those two tournaments, if I play my best tennis going into the U.S. Open, I will win a lot of matches there," Nadal said. "It is very important to me."
John McEnroe has called Nadal the most exciting teenager to hit the scene since Boris Becker won Wimbledon in 1985, but until now all of Nadal's eight career titles have been won on one surface -- clay.
Still, his last two hard court efforts showed his game may not be as limited as some former clay court stars like Gustavo Kuerten and Sergi Bruguera.
At the Australian Open, he pushed second-ranked Lleyton Hewitt to five sets in the fourth round. That was followed by reaching the Miami final, where top-ranked Roger Federer also needed five sets to down the teenager.
The third-ranked Spaniard also wants a successful hard-court campaign because it will determine if he finishes the year ranked No. 2 ahead of Hewitt. As far as the U.S. Open goes, he knows that he is a dark horse for the title.
"Federer is always the favorite. Then comes Andy Roddick and Hewitt," Nadal said. "Federer is better than anyone. To get to that level, I will have to play good on hard court, on clay, on grass. I will have to improve my serve."
Nadal said not much has changed since he won the French Open in early June.
"I'm still the same person. Some things are better, some things worse," he said, then shrugged.
Nadal may be eyeing the U.S. Open, but the Spaniard is also bent on keeping alive his 29-match clay winning streak -- the ninth longest in history. Titles in Stuttgart and next week at Umag, Croatia, would leave only Guillermo Vilas, Bjorn Borg and Thomas Muster boasting more straight wins.
He will face either Kuerten, who has struggled since a hip operation, or U.S. qualifier Hugo Armando in a second-round match Wednesday.
"I have confidence from my results, but I know I can lose every match, so I will give 100 percent tomorrow," Nadal said. "I know sometime I will lose."
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