Rafael Nadal said he may call an early halt to his season and hit the practice courts instead as he bids to halt a slide in his form and results in time for next season.
The 30-year-old, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, bore a worried look after he was soundly beaten 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) by Viktor Troicki in his first match at the Shanghai Masters.
It extended a difficult run for the Spanish left-hander who hasn’t reached a final since he won his second title of the year in Barcelona in April. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks. It’s something that I need to think about”, said the world number five on Wednesday. “I cannot say now what I’m going to do during the next month. I’m not sure about my calendar. I’m not sure about the things that I need to do to try to be 100 percent ready for next year.”
The last events of the season include the Swiss Indoors, the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals in London. But Nadal said more tournaments may not be what he needs.
“Sometimes keeping (on) competing is not the solution. Sometimes the solution is to practise and stop and have a process of training. And maybe that’s an opportunity to do it,” he said.
