Losing his first-round match at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany wasn't the worst thing to happen to Rafael Nadal.
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Tennis.com reported Saturday that the world's No. 1 player and reigning French Open champion will try to take some time off before Wimbledon to rest his back, which has bothered him since the Australian Open in January.
"I don't have a very bad feeling but I still feel the back a little bit," Nadal said, according to tennis.com. "It's something similar I had at the Australian Open. I have a little bit of an oedema in the bone in the back.
"And I felt that during Roland Garros in the first round, especially in the second round it was worse. But it's true that after the second round I was improving. Today is not the worst day, but I feel that I need to improve; I need to rest a little bit. I need to improve a little bit to try to play well in Wimbledon."
Nadal played with the back issues all the way through the finals of the Australian Open, in which he lost a five-set match to Stanislas Wawrinka for the championship. The combination of the defeat and his ailing back sapped his confidence during the clay season. He lost three times on his favorite surface before regrouping to win his ninth French Open title.
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Even in victory, Nadal says his serve has been affected by his back injury.
"It's a little bit more dangerous for me to change the directions, Nadal said. "It's difficult to create all the power with the back.
He has not had a day off in a month and will try to balance his rest time with his preparation for Wimbledon, which begins June 23.
"I will fly to Wimbledon Wednesday early morning and play and practice a few days there. I don't know if I'm going to have one match or not before," he said.
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