French Open king Rafael Nadal says he is unconcerned about the future as focus switches to Wimbledon

Even though there is now an extra week between the French Open and Queen’s Club, the world No 1 is not sure whether he will have recovered in time to play there

Rafa Nadal celebrates his historic 11th French Open title (Getty)

It was eight years ago that 24-year-old Rafael Nadal won his fifth French Open title on a Sunday evening in Paris, caught a Eurostar train to London the following afternoon, practised on grass at Queen’s Club in the pouring rain in the evening, played his first doubles match on the Tuesday and his first singles match on the Wednesday. Within a month he had won his second Wimbledon title and within three months he had won a third successive Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Subsequent years have taken a toll on the Spaniard’s body. Even though there is an extra week these days between the French Open and what is now the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club, the world No 1 is not sure whether he will have recovered in time to play there next week. He might not be the only big-name withdrawal, with Andy Murray set to make a decision within the next day or two on whether to play his first competitive match for 11 months following hip surgery.

“I am 32,” Nadal said in the wake of winning his 11th French Open title here on Sunday. “That's what I feel.You can’t fight against age and you can’t fight against the watch. The watch keeps going always.”

In each of the last two years Nadal has withdrawn from Queen’s as a result of his clay-court exertions. Two years ago he was dealing with a wrist problem and last year he was advised by doctors to rest after playing 25 matches in the previous eight weeks.

Rafa Nadal has battled his way back to the top (Getty)

Nadal did not reveal any specific injury issues after playing 27 matches in this year’s European clay-court swing, during which he won the titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Paris, but said he had to decide “what is better for my body” before confirming his presence at Queen’s Club. Wimbledon starts in just 21 days’ time.

“I’ve had a long and mentally tough clay-court season because I played almost all the matches possible,” Nadal said. “It was a demanding two months for me.

“I would love to be playing in as many places as possible, but it’s a drastic change from clay to grass. I did it more quickly in the past when I was much younger, because I played back-to-back, but it's time to check how I feel in the next couple of days.”

In the five Wimbledons he played between 2006 and 2011 Nadal reached the final every time and won the title twice, but since then he has never progressed beyond the fourth round. He has suffered some shocking defeats in that time to players like Lukas Rosol and Steve Darcis and reckons one of his best runs was last year, when he lost to Gilles Muller, who won the fifth set of their fourth-round match 15-13.

Nadal had arrived at the All England Club last year without any competitive grass-court matches under his belt, but, looking back, thought that his preparations had gone well.“I felt that I had a good opportunity to go far in the tournament,” he said. “I felt myself playing well on grass last year. I lost that match against a very tough opponent on grass, but before that I played some great matches against tough opponents.”

Having secured his 17th Grand Slam title by beating Dominic Thiem in the final here, Nadal said he was not concerned about his future. “Tennis is a very important part of my life, without a doubt, but it’s not everything,” he said.“I have a lot of other things that make me happy, and so I am not much worried about the future. I am enjoying the moment. Every day that I spend on tour I enjoy all the experiences that tennis gave me the possibility to live.

“I am just trying to keep enjoying and I’m going to keep playing until my body resists and as long as my happiness is still high playing tennis. When that changes, it will be a time to do something else.”

Nadal said, nevertheless, that he would keep trying to make himself a better player. “You can always improve,” he said. “If you don't have the will to improve, you don't understand sport, because sport is always about improving.

The Spaniard now turns his attention to Wimbledon (AFP)

“That’s the meaning of sport. It’s playing with the dream of doing something better than what you were doing before. Sport is not that difficult. It’s simple. When you’re not working with the passion to do something better, I think sports loses its sense.”

Roger Federer, who missed the whole clay-court campaign for the second year in a row, starts his Wimbledon preparations at this week’s tournament in Stuttgart, where he needs to win only two matches to overtake Nadal at the top of the world rankings next week, while Novak Djokovic has yet to reveal his plans for the grass-court season.

Even if Nadal and Murray do not make the starting line-up at Queen’s next week the line-up is exceptionally strong. It includes Juan Martin del Potro, Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kevin Anderson and David Goffin, who are all top 10 players, as well as Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Kyle Edmund and Nick Kyrgios.