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Tennis > Nadal hungry to prove doubters wrong
By Darren Walton
June 20, 2010

A year after missing his title defence with career-threatening knee injuries, Rafael Nadal returns to Wimbledon as the world No.1 and hungrier than ever to regain the trophy he covets most.

Even after capturing a remarkable fifth French Open title this month, the claycourt king nominates his 2008 Wimbledon triumph as the crowning glory in his still-brief career and says he's eager to once again prove the doubters wrong on the London lawns.

"To win the title like Wimbledon was probably one of the more emotional moments in my career because I worked hard all my life to improve my tennis on the rest of the surfaces other than clay," the Spaniard said.

"I did all the work to be a more complete player and to win on the most difficult surface. This is probably the most important tournament of the world, so it was very important for me."

Despite his top ranking, Nadal will be the No.2 seed behind six-time champion Roger Federer when the tournament gets underway on Monday.

But feeling "perfect, thank you" after a flawless claycourt season which yielded four titles from four events, the indomitable 24-year-old doesn't plan on playing second fiddle to anyone at the All England Club.

"Four months ago, everybody says they don't know if I'm going to have another time at the top," Nadal said.

"I am very happy about the 2010 season. I am playing probably one of my best seasons."

Federer, who is looking to match Pete Sampras's modern-day record seven titles, and Nadal have won every Wimbledon title since 2002 and not lost to anyone other than each other in the past four years.

Lleyton Hewitt is the only other man in the draw to have lifted the trophy and last year's runner-up Andy Roddick believes the resurgent Australian's streak-busting win over Federer in Germany last weekend has him right in the frame to repeat his '02 triumph.

"I've always put Lleyton in the top echelon of guys on grass," said Roddick, who could square off with Hewitt for a place in the semi-finals.

"A lot of people talk about how well I played over the weekend last year, but I barely beat Lleyton in the quarters.

"That was a match I felt fortunate to get out of so it's not surprising to see Lleyton Hewitt playing well on a grass court.

"I'm sure the tournament in Halle kind of maybe opened some people's eyes. But inside the locker room I don't know if anyone was super shocked that he's in form on this surface."

Andy Murray is the other leading contender and the Scot insists his run to the last four 12 months ago has him equipped to deal with the untold pressures that go with trying to end Britain's infamous 74-year title drought.

"Last year was the first year I had sort of a legitimate chance of winning the tournament, so it was good to have had that experience," Murray said.

"You just get used to playing when you're at home in front of your home crowd, dealing with sort of the surroundings, everything that goes on with the tournament.

"When I played in the past, there's obviously pressure on you to do well but not necessarily win the event.

"Now that's where I feel like I'm at - you know, trying to win the tournament."
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