Monte Carlo Masters: Can Rafael Nadal, the king of clay, hold on to his crown?

Spaniard has been plagued by injury since winning last year’s French Open, but he is confident, he tells Paul Newman in Monte Carlo, his favourite surface will inspire latest comeback

Rafael Nadal has reached just one final since his triumph at Roland Garros last June (GETTY IMAGES)

Rafael Nadal has won 46 titles on his favourite surface, including a record nine French Opens, but do not try telling the greatest clay-court player in history that he is the favourite to win the Monte Carlo Masters title this week for the ninth time.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Nadal insists ahead of his opening match of the European clay-court season against France’s Lucas Pouille today. “I am not the favourite for anything. I have been playing worse than the rest of the players who are in theory my rivals. The pressure is not on me. I have everything to win.”

He adds with a smile: “I am very used to not defending titles the weeks that I play. I think everybody gets used to that. Most players lose more matches than they win. But it’s a good feeling being back to play my favourite part of the season and my favourite tournaments. I know that I have to play better than I have been playing. I will try to do all the things that I can to make that possible.”

False modesty? That might be the view of some opponents, but as Nadal looks ahead to what has always been his most productive period of the year he is serious in his assessment. Sitting at a table overlooking one of the outside courts at the Monte Carlo Country Club, his face and arms looking browner than ever after a practice session in the dazzling Mediterranean sunshine, the 28-year-old Spaniard even raises the prospect of dropping outside the world’s top 20 in the coming weeks.

He has, after all, grown accustomed to experiencing as many peaks and dips in his career as the mountains that form the backdrop to this glorious location. He has repeatedly bounced back from lengthy lay-offs to reclaim his former glories.

After a four-month absence following a foot problem at the end of 2004 he won his first French Open title the following summer. After his troublesome knees finally gave way in 2009, when Robin Soderling inflicted the Spaniard’s only defeat in 67 matches at Roland Garros, Nadal claimed three Grand Slam titles the following year. After seven months off the court with more knee trouble following his shock defeat to Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon, he won a career-best 10 titles in 2013, including the French and US Opens.

Rafael Nadal celebrates winning the French Open 2014 title after defeating Novak Djokovic (Getty Images)

The physical problems over the last year have not been quite as serious – a wrist injury forced him out for three months last summer and appendicitis brought a premature end to his 2014 campaign – but by his own admission Nadal has been lacking confidence on the court. Since winning his ninth French Open last summer, he has reached only one final, having won a minor title in Buenos Aires last month. Three players ranked outside the world’s top 100 – 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios, 17-year-old Borna Coric and the veteran Michael Berrer – have been among those to claim his scalp over that period.

Returning to one of his favourite venues has, nevertheless, helped to revive his spirits. “There is not a very big difference to go from playing well to playing badly, or from playing badly to playing well,” Nadal says. “Experience tells you that just small things can make big changes. I know that if you are working well, if you have the motivation and the passion to do it, the moment can arrive.

“I need to be more solid. I need to play more consistently. I cannot be playing well and then make four mistakes in a row like I was doing in [my last tournament in] Miami.”

Are those “small differences” that he needs to make mental or technical? “It’s a little bit of everything. If you play better shots, the mental part is easier. I’m feeling good mentally. It’s not as though I have a bad attitude or anything like that, but mentally I need to play with more calm, to have a little bit more confidence in myself. If you are feeling good mentally then it’s easier to play better shots. For me personally, it is always the mental side that is more important than anything else. I don’t think I’ve forgotten how to play tennis.”

Having dropped to No 5 in the world, and with 3,780 of his 5,255 ranking points to defend in the next eight weeks, Nadal is in danger of plummeting down the order. That could mean having to face his biggest rivals much earlier in tournaments, but he does not appear too concerned.

“If I go down a lot in the rankings, I’m sure I will get back to a higher position,” he says. “If I am not winning matches over the next month and a half, and if I go back to No 20 or No 30 in the world, I will accept that. I’m going to work to come back to the highest position possible in the rankings. I know my level is higher than those numbers. Let’s see what happens if I am able to compete for a full year this year and next year.”

But does he believe he has it in him to rescale his former heights? “If I didn’t believe I could do that, I would not be here,” he says. “If I didn’t believe that I could keep having chances to do the things that I did the last couple of years, I would be doing something else. If I’m here it’s because I have the motivation, the passion and the emotion to keep playing tennis. For me, to keep playing tennis means trying to be competitive for everything.”

In the 10 months since he beat Novak Djokovic to win at Roland Garros, Nadal has played only two matches against top-10 opponents. He lost both of them, to Tomas Berdych at the Australian Open and to Milos Raonic at the Indian Wells Masters. He insists, however, that the prospect of locking horns again with the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray in the next few weeks is not an extra source of motivation.

“My motivation has nothing to do with [playing against] my rivals,” he says. “I only have my personal motivation. I need to play my best. If I play my best, I think that can happen again. That’s what I am focused on, to recover my best game.”