Rafael Nadal reveals the one thing he NEEDS after successful return to tour
RAFAEL NADAL eased past Aljaz Bedene in his first tour match since the Australian Open, triumphing 6-1, 6-3, but admitted that spending time on court is just as important as winning.
Nadal reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open but had arrived at the tournament under an injury cloud after pulling out of the last two tournaments of 2017 and missing all of his warm-up tournaments for the major.
Eventually, a leg injury forced him out of his class with Marin Cilic in the fifth set and he took another three months off to recuperate.
And after two wins in the Davis Cup for Spain against Germany in early April, he got back into tour action earlier today, beating Bedene for the loss of just four games.
Nadal will now face Karen Khachanov in the last 16 of the Monte Carlo Masters, a tournament he has won a record 10 times.
However, the 31-year-old insists he is just thankful to be getting matches under his belt after so long out.
"It's a positive start, of course. It's important for me to win matches... I need days on court," said Nadal.
"Since Shanghai last year, I [have] spent not enough time on court competing.
"Every match that I have the chance to win is great news because it's confidence and is a chance to play another day, and that's what I need.”
Rafael Nadal trains on clay court
The current world No 1 will only retain his top spot in the rankings if he secures an 11th title in Monaco, even though Roger Federer is not playing.
The Swiss has taken the whole clay-court season off to save his energy for the grass season.
It means he will also miss the second Grand Slam of the year in Paris, where Nadal will attempt to defend his French Open title.
But the Spaniard believes he will never adopt the attitude Federer has towards playing on one particular surface.
"Of course, during the years, when you get older, you need to adjust a little bit more the efforts and the calendar," Nadal added.
"But for me it's difficult to say I am not going to play, for example, grass, or I'm not going to play hard."
He added: "There are tournaments that I can't imagine missing on purpose, because they are the tournaments that I love to play.
"So I don't see myself missing Monte Carlo on purpose.
"I don't see myself missing Wimbledon on purpose, or the US Open, or Australian, or Rome.
"These kind of events I don't see [myself] missing."