By Chris Oddo | Sunday, May 4, 2014

 

Rafael Nadal spoke with reporters on Sunday in Madrid, saying that he hopes to turn small changes into big results in his next three events.

Photo Source: Mutua Madrid Open

Speaking at a press conference prior to the start of the Mutua Madrid Open, Rafael Nadal tells reporters that he's working on some minor changes, and that he's confident those changes can help him achieve better results than he produced in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.

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“I don't think I have to change many things,” said Nadal. “I think I can change very small things, and the change can be quite drastic and quite big. That's what I'm working on right now.”

Nadal, who lost before the final on clay in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2004, says that the extra rest due to the losses was not a good thing for him. “No, It's not good for me,” he said. “The good thing is when you've been winning it's good for you. You have momentum and you can keep doing things well.”

Asked to pinpoint what exactly has been holding him back, the Spaniard offered a few ideas. “It's pretty simple,” he said. “I have to move a little bit better on the court. I have to be better in my drive with a little bit more decision.”

He added: “I just need to win. I think that in Barcelona I had a good opportunity. I think I was pretty close. I think that in many moments I deserved to do it, but that tennis is a fair game.”

Though he has spoken of some lingering demons from his Australian Open loss to Stanislas Wawrinka, Nadal appears ready to turn the page on that loss. “The defeat in Australia is the past,” he said. “We don't have to talk anymore about Australia. It's gone.”

And so the World No. 1 will set his sights on defending his Madrid title, with the knowledge that no matter how it turns out, there is still plenty of time to get things working in his favor before he bids for a ninth Roland Garros title later this spring.

“I been working since I lost in Barcelona,” he said. “I tried to train well to come here. If things don't come out well, we will go to Rome; if things don't work out there, we will go to Paris. That's everything. You have to continue and continue and continue, and think that things are going to work out for you. That's what I'm going to try to do all of these days.”