Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Nadal not thinking about another Wimbledon title

Updated June 26, 2012 18:16:26

Being neither "arrogant" nor "crazy", Rafa Nadal is refusing to think about a third Wimbledon title ahead of his first-round match against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday.

Having won a record seventh French Open title at the start of the month by beating his great rival Novak Djokovic in the final, the Spaniard could be forgiven for allowing his thoughts to wander to the possibility of another title in southwest London.

"I'm very happy the way things went the last couple of months, since the beginning of the season," he told reporters.

"Thinking about winning another title here in Wimbledon is arrogant and crazy. That's something I cannot think about."

Britain's Andy Murray follows Nadal on to Centre Court as he begins his latest attempt to win a maiden grand slam title at Wimbledon against Nikolay Davydenko, while in the women's competition, champion Petra Kvitova and Serena Williams are both in action.

"I think after Wimbledon, it changed everything as a player," Kvitova said ahead of her first-round clash against Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova which will open the Centre Court programme.

"(In) the tournaments after, the players want to beat me for sure."

Queensland teenager Ash Barty will make her Wimbledon debut tonight, against Italy's Roberta Vinci.

Barty is the tournament's reigning junior champion, but has chosen to compete in the women's draw this year.

Veteran Casey Dellacqua of Australia faces a tough first round assignment against the number nine seed Marion Bartoli.

In the men's draw, Bernard Tomic will start favourite against Belgium's David Goffin, Lleyton Hewitt will meet the number five seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while Matthew Ebden will take on Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Hewitt was the champion in 2002 but needed a wildcard to play at Wimbledon this year after missing several months with a toe injury.

He has a tough first-up opponent in Tsonga, who beat Roger Federer on to his way to the semi-finals last year.

Reuters/ABC

Tags: tennis, sport, england, united-kingdom

First posted June 26, 2012 15:55:48


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