ATP Masters Monte Carlo 2013

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Op maandag 15 april 2013 13:05 schreef TheArt het volgende:
Lulletje Simon wint maar 18% van de punten op zijn 2e service in de 1e set tegen Bautista-Agut en verliest die dan ook met 6-3

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Nadal: 'I'm not the favourite'

You probably know the stats by now. Rafael Nadal has won eight successive crowns at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, running up 42 wins in a row at the gateway of the European spring clay-court season.

This year, the Mallorcan enters the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court event on the back of 14 straight victories, his 600th career match win and three straight triumphs (Buenos Aires, Acapulco and Indian Wells) after making a remarkable return from a left knee injury that sidelined him for seven months. But despite all his early success in 2013 and his history at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, Nadal states he is not the favourite to hoist the trophy on Sunday.

“I don't feel I am the biggest favourite to win the tournament this year. It's not easy to win this tournament. I will go day by day,” Nadal told a media roundtable Monday. “It's not possible to win every year. Some day that's going to stop. I will try my best to make that happen, but that's life. Not everything is forever. But I am very excited to be here and have a high motivation to play well and put myself in position to have a good tournament. I am a candidate if I play my game.”

Given all he has overcome to put himself back in position among the elite stars of the ATP World Tour, the 22-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion says this part of the tennis calendar is more meaningful than in years past.

“I am excited to play here and play this European clay-court season. It's one of the best parts of the year without a doubt,” said Nadal. “I really enjoy playing in all these tournaments. There are a lot of big emotions that happened in the past.

“But this year is probably more special because I had a really tough year. To be back and playing another time at these places is fantastic. I don't feel pressure that I've felt in years in the past, because I know all that happened, I cannot repeat all of this. But I'm going to try and be competitive and give [myself] chances to play well.”

http://www.atpworldtour.c(...)y-Nadal-Preview.aspx