Rafael Nadal has not been in great form since the beginning of 2015 season. Coming back from an appendicitis injury Nadal managed to win only two titles in a lower ranked ATP 250 events with one of them coming in clay at Buenos Aires and another in grass which he won in Stuttgart couple of days back.
After a successful start to the grass season by winning the Mercedes cup in Stuttgart, Nadal failed to maintain the tempo at the Aegon Championships, Queens Club, London. He suffered a round one exit against Alexander Dolgopolov by losing in three sets 6-3,7-6,6-4. After coming back in the second set saving a match point Nadal was in control and was up a break early in the third set. Leading 4-2 in the final set Nadal lost four games in a row which earned victory for Dolgopolov. Dolgopolov served well throughout the match and Nadal could hardly return any of them. Taking the ball early and hitting it flat to Nadal’s forehand was the gameplan for Dolgopolov and it paid dividends for him as he defeated the Spaniard.
After his First round exit against Dolgopolov Nadal quoted that “ He is positive mentally which is a good thing for him” as he had confidence issue earlier on big points. He also added that he is playing well at the moment and hopeful to have some good days at the Aegon championships as he plays doubles at the event. “ I’m going to come back strong and get a good week of training before Wimbledon and I hope to be 100 % fit to play at Wimbledon” he further added.
With Wimbledon looming around which is all set to begin from 29th june, Nadal doesn’t have the pressure of defending points which he had to cope up with at the French Open. Being ranked 10th in the world Nadal has the possibility of facing Djokovic or Federer as early as in the Quarter Finals. Nadal has been vulnerable to big servers and huge hitting groundstroke players in the past couple of years. If Nadal manages to play aggressive from the Start of the Wimbledon and goes past the second week he has a good shot at winning the title, but it isn’t going to be any easier task as he might get a tougher draw as he is ranked 10th in the world and has the possibility of facing higher seeded players in the early rounds.
As mentioned earlier, Nadal’s chances at Wimbledon depends upon his performance in the 1st week of the tournament. At the moment his chances of winning the Wimbledon seems to be grim.