Nadal unworried by 'normal' form

The Spaniard is yet to win a title this season - his longest wait to do so since 2004 - and been out of sorts on his favoured clay surface, failing to progress past the semi-finals at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid.

Nonetheless, he feels that he has plenty of tennis ahead of him and is optimistic ahead of his final two engagements on clay, in Rome next week before heading to Paris for the French Open at the end of the month.

"I think that it's more normal what is happening right now, than what happened in the past 14 years,” Nadal said according to the ATP's official website.

"I think I have tennis ahead of me. I have time ahead of me. I'll be able to try to win this kind of tournament that I was not able to win this year. And what I have to do is to be fit and to play properly and a high tennis level.

"If I manage to do that next year, I think I will still have a very good opportunity to fight for all of these titles and for the rest of the year, I still have two [clay-court] tournaments. And we will see what happens there.

"Tennis is about winning or losing. I have been able to win a lot for a lot of years on this surface. And this year, it seems that's not the way and I am really close to it, but not managing to win.

"You just have to accept it and I have to accept it naturally. But to accept things does not mean to try to change things. But during all my life, I think I have taken the victories very naturally and with a lot of normality. With the losses I'll do the same. It will be normal and I'm going to accept it naturally

"I wasn't able to play as good as I wanted to play. So, the consequence is that I was not able to win the match."

Nadal, the defending champion in Rome, will begin his campaign in the Italian capital against either Richard Gasquet or Jeremy Chardy.