Nadal brushes off being labelled Madrid Open favourite

Madrid May 7 (IANS) Tennis great Rafael Nadal of Spain on Monday brushed off being tipped to win the Madrid Open title despite his good showing so far in this year s clay court season.

The so-called "King of Clay" won his 11th title at both the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open achieving an Open Era record streak of clay-court sets won at 46 and counting reports Efe.

"It s true that I played at a good level in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and that s why things went as they did " Nadal world No. 1 said at a press conference ahead of starting his bid for a sixth Madrid Open title.

"I m happy with the way things went. I was better than the other players in those tournaments but this doesn t guarantee that I ll be better in this tournament " Nadal added.

"What I want is to be ready to be there. For me it doesn t matter to be the favourite or not. I do not worry about this at all. I try to do things the best way possible and arrive at the tournament at the best level " he continued.

Nadal added that he considers this approach to be the key to his success throughout his career.

--IANS
tri/vm