Rafael Nadal found a way to explain away his previous clay-court loss. His latest one, however, left him searching for answers.
Nadal suffered a deflating 6-4, 7-6 (6) loss to world No. 30 Fabio Fognini in the third round of the Barcelona Open - Nadal's home tournament - on Thursday. It was Nadal's second loss on clay to the Italian, who beat No. 4 player in the semifinals in Rio de Janeiro in February, Reuters reported.
Rafael Nadal says Novak Djokovic no greater French Open threat than usual
The loss also was Nadal's second in three matches on clay - his favored surface. He lost to No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 last week in the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Nadal, however, was beaming after his play in Monte Carlo, saying he felt the confidence he was lacking for most of 2015 was coming back.
The latest loss to Fognini stopped Rafa's momentum dead in its tracks.
"My forehand has been my biggest virtue," Nadal said, according to bbc.com. "But my forehand was vulgar; it wasn't a forehand worthy of my ranking and career."
Nadal battled back from 6-3 down to even the second-set tiebreaker at 6-6. But then he shanked a forehand to fall behind 7-6, and then blew a forehand a foot wide, USA TODAY Sports' For the Win reported, after his serve wide seemingly set him up for an easy winner.
"I didn't have enough power or speed on my forehand," he said, according to atpworldtour.com. I didn't have control of the points with my forehand. When I was in good positions, I couldn't push Fognini back. When that happens, my game can't hurt my opponent. That was the case today."
With the French Open a month away, Nadal remains committed to fighting to get his game in order. But make no mistake; Thursday's loss was a huge setback.
"It was a disaster today. Fabio played better than me and he deserved to win. I didn't deserve to win. Until I sort out the ups and downs I'm suffering from this season, I will continue to be vulnerable," Nadal said, according to atpworldtour.com.
"I spent last week in Monte-Carlo full of good moments. It was the best week of the year. But this one has been the opposite. It's been a very negative week. I thought I would be able to find consistency, but it hasn't happened."
And time is running out for Nadal if he wants to win his 10th French Open next month.
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