Wimbledon 2017: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both confident with a final between the two legends possible

Nadal has a poor recent record at the All England Club but insists his motivation remains high, while the Swiss believes skipping the clay-court season has helped him to stay fresh

Rafael Nadal has not gone beyond the fourth round here since 2011 and has suffered some shocking defeats in the process, but the Spaniard insisted that his recent record at the All England Club had not affected his mindset going into the tournament.

“My motivation is always high in all the events that I play,” Nadal said here on Saturday.

“If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t play. You can imagine that playing here at Wimbledon has always been very, very special for me. It was one of my biggest goals to play well in this tournament when I started to have success in this sport. And I did that five times.”

Between 2006 and 2011 Nadal reached the final here on five occasions, winning the title twice. Since then, however, he has lost to low-ranked opponents on each of his appearances. His troublesome knees have been a problem on grass as a result of the need to get lower to hit the ball because of the bounce.

“It’s true that what happened with my knees in 2012 was more difficult,” Nadal said. “At the same time it’s true that in 2014 I played a good event. I lost in the fourth round against Nick [Kyrgios]. But I had my chances, too. Last year I couldn't play and of course 2015 was not my year.

“Let's see what's going on this year. I know it’s always difficult. I am excited to be playing again here, in a tournament that I really love. I really enjoy playing. But at the same time this is a tournament where you can go out very early.”

Nadal spent last week playing at Hurlingham (Getty)

Having won the French Open last month and played well since the beginning of the season, Nadal said his confidence was high. He has been practising on grass on his home island of Majorca.

“Obviously I would love to have played Queen's, but after the last three months and after what happened at Roland Garros, we decided that it was better for my body to have a slower change to the grass,” he said. “We were practising little bit more every day.”

With Roger Federer in the other half of the draw, there is a chance that the two great rivals could meet again in the final here.

Federer is hoping to win an unprecedented eighth Wimbledon title (Getty)

Federer missed the whole clay-court season in order to improve his chances both here and in the US Open later in the summer

“I’ll be fresh, that's the positive,” Federer said. “But the negative is that I haven't had any matches whatsoever.

“That's when I felt within the team. We all felt the same way, that it's better to save myself and give it all I have for the rest of the season - not just the grass-court season, but, looking beyond that, too, all the way to the American summer, staying on a fast-court tennis sort of mindset.”