DPA/Paris
Ranking numbers mean little to Rafael Nadal (pictured) as Spain’s king of clay fights to regain his superiority on the surface as he seeks a record 10th trophy at the French Open.
Nadal, seeded sixth after a poor set of European run-up performances — none of which yielded a trophy — is into the third round at Roland Garos and has his tennis blinders on regarding anything but his next match with Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.
“For the moment, I’ve won two matches,” said the holder of 46 clay titles. “That’s all. We can talk about rankings, but if I am the sixth or I am seventh, it is because I deserve to be the seventh.
“There is a big chance that (seventh) can happen after Paris because I deserve to be where I’m gonna be. When you have an injury for six months (2014) and then you come back and you’re not able to win a lot in that first five months (that I was playing) it is normal that your ranking’s going to go back.
“But being 10, 11, 12 or second or seventh, it’s not going to change the things that happened in my career.”
Nadal said that all he and his team can do is continue to work on improvements. “I’m going to work with motivation. At the end of the day, ranking is important, yes, but the most important thing is be competitive, feel healthy, and feel enough well to go to every tournament with the chance to compete well against everybody.
“That’s more important for me than being in a higher position of the ranking. If that (improvement) happens, I will be in a good position of the rankings.”
Nick always has time for ladies
Charismatic Nick Kyrgios seems to have adopted well to the role of tennis sex symbol, with the bejewelled hip-hop 20-year-old admitting that the longtime sporting “rule” of no sex before competition doesn’t really apply to him.
But the hedonistic Aussie does have one strict personal regulation — absolutely no liaisons with tennis babes.
“I don’t abide by that (abstinence) rule,” Kyrgios told GQ magazine. “I don’t abide by that at all. You fly around the world doing what you love and that’s play tennis. And if you’re good enough, some of the top players have a lot of girls as well.
“I won’t say any (names), but mate, a lot goes on. What happens on tour gets around fast, so you have to be careful. That’s why I don’t mess with any tennis chicks.”
Australia’s top-ranked player on 30th is building for a third-round Paris clash with Andy Murray, who won their last match in a Melbourne quarter-final in January.
The flash youngster has a bit of a reputation around the circuit, carrying on a Twitter flirtation with women’s former number one Victoria Azarenka which apparently went nowhere in late 2014 after she broke up with US rapper Redfoo.
“I say what I think. People are so conscious of saying the right thing in front of the media that they hide how they truly feel,” said the no-holds-barred Kyrgios. “If I don’t agree with something, or think there’s a chance to say something funny, then I’m going to say it.”
Rafael Nadal
