"I need battles like this": Nadal sees positives despite worst start to season ever

Rafael Nadal started his season with two losses for the first time in his career but he's adamant that battles like the one he had against Norrie and de Minaur are good.

Those two matches had Nadal spend almost six hours on the court and that's far from ideal for the Spaniard albeit a good way to prepare him for the upcoming Australian Open. He seems to agree with it as he claimed that he needs battles like this after not playing competitive tennis for a while:

“I need battles like this, I didn’t play many official matches [in the] last six months, almost seven, so days like this still help, the process is faster but I need to keep fighting, that’s it. For moments I played a very good level of tennis."

He added:

“I was able to play some good tennis but not consistently enough in the second set for me, break at the beginning in the second, chance to win almost every single game five-one, or even six-one, and I’ve lost six games in a row, so can’t happen. And then again, some good points in the third, some chances but some mistakes too. That’s it, I need to keep fighting, keep finding the rhythm.”

Nadal doesn't think the situation he's in right now is ideal but he's got two weeks to prepare for the event. It's a similar sentiment to what he had last year and it worked out well:

“I have two weeks before the Australian Open start. I can’t say that the situation is ideal, but at the same time I can’t say that it's very negative because for moments I was playing good and I think that two matches are going to help me.