Despite suffering a shocking defeating in only his second match at Indian Wells, Rafael Nadal has not left the venue. He is still in the Californian desert training and getting himself ready for his next assignment which is the Sony Open.
On the social networking site Facebook yesterday, the Spaniard uploaded a snap of him putting in some hard yards on the practice court. With that snap, he wrote “In Indian Wells, Gearing up for the Sony Open.”
The Sony Open is also going to take place on the hard courts. So, it might not be such a bad idea for Nadal to stay at Indian Wells and train.
Nadal hasn’t had a fruitful 2014 till this point of time. He had actually started well and was looking good in the Australian Open, but, in the final match there, Stanislas Wawrinka, the Swiss player, defeated him against all the odds and that’s what broke his rhythm completely.
In the tournaments that he has played thereafter, Nadal hasn’t appeared to be in rhythm at all. It’s not that he hasn’t won matches. He has won them. He has even won a title in Brazil, but, that fluency has not been there in his game.
However, Nadal is still at the top of the world rankings, but, not by a big margin. His arch rival Novak Djokovic is breathing down his neck. So, it’s very important for the Spaniard to play well in the Sony Open and at least reach the title round.
Sony Open will start from next Monday and will continue till the 30th of this month. Nadal, quite obviously, has been given the top seed in the tournament. The second and the third seeds are Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka respectively.