DPA/Stuttgart

Rafael Nadal  yesterday said he has pushed the French Open completely out of mind as he turns his attention to grass play, beginning with this week’s pre-Wimbledon tune-up at the Mercedes Cup.
For the first time in a decade, the 29-year-old king of clay was missing from the closing stages at the just-concluded edition of Roland Garros, won by Stan Wawrinka over Novak Djokovic.
Nadal, whose 2015 European clay season was a disaster from start to abrupt finish in the Paris quarter-finals with a straight-sets loss to number one Djokovic, said he did not even watch the Sunday final.
Instead, he had a hit on the newly-installed grass courts of the Weissenhof club as the tournament switches from clay and becomes the opening event on a revised pre-Wimbledon ÀTP calendar.
“I’m here. I no longer have to deal with it (Paris). I did not have the self-confidence that I needed (against Djokovic). Novak was better than me,” said the Spaniard.
“I have to work hard to improve my level. If that happens, then I’m confident that I can show my best tennis again.”
Nadal, a nine-time Paris champion who perhaps has yet to digest his current slide from the top of the clay pyramid, said that it’s all about grass-court game for him now.
“I want to win as many games as possible,” said the world number 10, as rain poured down in Stuttgart, making the possibility of first-round play a slim possibility. “Last month, my tennis was better again.
“I can enjoy tennis for a month again, after the first three months of the years, which were terrible.”
Nadal said that it will require all of his concentration to get ready for the surface change with his opening match a second-rounder in midweek after a bye as top seed in Stuttgart.
“Now is not the time to think about the title. The first week on grass after a whole year without grass is always hard. But I’ll do my best,” said the two-time champion on Stuttgart clay in 2005 and 2007. “I’ve had success here and the court looks to be in great shape. I’ll have time to practise and be ready for my first match.
“I now have three weeks before Wimbledon, I hope this helps. Grass is a surface where points are decided quickly. And there are a lot of good grass players here.”
Nadal’s second-round opponent will be decided by the match between Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and Czech Lukas Rosol, who famously defeated an injured Nadal at Wimbledon 2012.