Can Nadal remain the King Of Clay this year ?

It has to be the biggest question right now, as the clay season leading to the French Open is starting this week at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Can Rafael Nadal keep his clay throne this year despite struggling since the start of the season and despite Novak Djokovic showing a 2011-like kind of form ?

Crédit : http://montecarlotennismasters.com/galleryphoto/2015-media-round-tables/

Nadal has achieved so much on this surface and succeeded so many times to come back from injuries and doubts that it'd seem unrealistic to say he can't do it again. When Nadal puts a foot on clay, he usually turns into a whole different kind of player. And if there's on person not doubting Rafa being soon a threat again on this surface, it's one of his biggest rival : Novak Djokovic. "Whenever the clay court season comes around, he’s the first player to be mentioned as the favorite in any tournament. They call him king of clay and he has deserved that crown because of his achievements. He’s always an ultimate challenge on clay. Even if he’s struggling. It’s Nadal, it’s his surface and it’s the period of the year he’s looking to get biggest results."

"If I wasn't believing that I can do it, I would not be here", Nadal

Nadal for now will only say that his main goal is to play well. He's been having too many ups and downs so far this year for his liking, and played a pretty terrible - for his standards - match in Miami against Fernando Verdasco. Now comes the time to find this inner belief again. "I’m practicing well, happy to be here. It's a good feeling to be back and to play my favorite part of the season. I know I have to play better than what I did. I’m gonna try my best to make it possible. If I wasn't believing that I can do it, I would not be here. I did all the things that I had to do in my career, so if I didn’t believe I can keep doing it or having chances to, I'd be doing other things. If I’m here it’s because I have the motivation, the passion and the emotion to keep playing tennis. Means trying to be competitive for everything."

Don't go talking to him about pressure, about being the one to beat. Nadal is only thinking about getting the doubts out of his mind. On sunday it wasn't the same Nadal as in Miami, who looked lost and was really locked in his doubts. In Monte-Carlo, he looked like someone ready to fight and to challenge anyone. "The most important thing for me is to feel myself well on court again, confident that I am improving. I was improving every week before Miami and there I played bad. If I’m able to find the tennis and the confidence on clay then everything will be a little bit less difficult. I don’t have pressure this year, I’m not the favorite for nothing. I have been playing worth than the rest of my rivals. So for me there’s everything to win. I arrive here with the motivation to do better and I hope to do it. Real thing is : from playing bad to playing well there’s no a very big difference. It’s just small things that make big changes. If you are working well, have the motivation, patience and calm to do it the moment can arrive. If you play better shots, the mental part is easier. If mentally I’m able to play with more calm and confidence, it’s easier to play better shots. It's difficult to see the dfference. And if he fails to defend all those points in the months to come ? He shrugs, sure that he'll come back : "If I’m not winning, I’m gonna go down a lot in the ranking...And I’m gonna come back, I’m sure of that. If I’m able to compete this year full year and next year full year, let’s see what happens."

Crédit : http://montecarlotennismasters.com/galleryphoto/2015-media-round-tables/

"I wouldn't worry too much about it", Djokovic

Djokovic agrees on the fact that Nadal doubting shouldn't be seen as weird. They all go through that kind of thing. "As a professional athlete, of course you go through various emotions throughout career and matches. It’s normal to accept the ups and downs, the crisis, big matches you’re not able to win because you get tight, because the expectations get the best out of you. But we’re talking about somebody who has won so much in his life and he has the experience, the talent, the mental and physical strength, one of the best players ever to play the game. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I went through those periods. I lost couple of finals in a row of Grand Slams, like the US Open 2013. I was leading then lost cause I wasn’t able to mentally sustain this level. Then I had a great 2014 and again 2015 and a great score in finals. The table is kind of turning all the time. You can’t expect somebody to be continously successful in those deciding moments. We’re all humans. You lose, you start doubting yourself : doubt is a part of it. It’s important to reflect on it, to identify the problem and get stronger. He has proved that so many times. He gets stronger from being down."

"I don’t think I’ve forgotten how to play tennis", Nadal

So as he was pretty down after Miami, expect him to start climbing back from now on ? That's what Rafa wants to do. "For me it’s always more the mental part because I don’t think I’ve forgotten how to play tennis. Tennis is a sport of victories. We’re talking of the 9 victories of Roland-Garros or the 8 victories here. Nobody remembers the defeats. When I lose, I lose, that’s it. It’s not a thing that I am destroyed for a week. I’m not happy, I’m sad for a while but you play tennis you go on court both players want to win. You have to be ready to accept what can happen. During all my career I’ve been able to accept victories with calm, loses with calm, try to not consider myself too good when I was winning a lot and not very bad when I was losing more. There’s a line. Being a human person more than a tennis player : be relaxed, appreciating what I’ve already done and being grateful for all the luck that I’m having, and enjoy all of this. You lose… I’ve won a lot of times, that’s it."

It makes now a long time since he hasn't had a big battle with his best rivals, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. This clay season should also be the occasion for him to have a chance to battle with them. But he doesn't really care : "My motivation is alway personal, not rivals motivation (sic). I never had this. If I play my best, I think that it can happen again (battling with Big 3), and that’s what I focus on : recovering my best game. If I’m able to do it : why not (smile)." Needless to say many are hoping to see those fights again. Will it be this week ?