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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;LONDON -- Rafael Nadal hasn\u2019t won back-to-back matches at the All England Club since he lost the final to Novak Djokovic in 2011, but he insists that he feels much better coming into Wimbledon this year compared to the last two. The two-time champion&amp;nbsp;lost in the first round to Belgian journeyman Steve Darcis last year. The year before he was blasted off the court by Lukas Rosol. This year Nadal gears up for Wimbledon having lost the only grass court match he\u2019s played, a straight set defeat&amp;nbsp;at the hands of Dustin Brown last week in Halle, Germany.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CPersonally I feel that I am doing things better,\u201D Nadal told reporters during his pre-tournament press conference on Saturday. \u201CI am able to move myself more free now. I\u2019m not scared about my knee. That\u2019s the most important thing for me.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CBut then it is true for the last couple of years I didn\u2019t play a lot of matches on grass. But I am confident that I can do it again. Not talking about [winning], talking about [playing] better than what I did last couple of years on grass.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nadal described Wimbledon as \u201Cthe most dangerous tournament of the year.\u201D Coming just two weeks after the tour\u2019s two-month-long clay season, there\u2019s little time to prepare for the unpredictable surface.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWhen I arrived to Roland Garros I already played for one month on clay,\u201D Nadal said. \u201CI played a lot of matches. So more or less I can imagine how I am going to play. U.S. Open is the same. Australia, [it's] true that it is the beginning of the season, but is a surface that we know so it is not a dramatic change, no? Here, yes. Especially the beginning of the tournament the courts are a little bit faster. The feeling on court is a little bit strange for everybody. Especially the top players have really more pressure.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seven-time champion Roger Federer agreed. \u201CI think [Nadal]&amp;nbsp;might be slightly more vulnerable in the early rounds, but [just] like most of the guys,\u201D Federer said. \u201CThis new, fresh, lush grass -- we\u2019re not quite used to it. As you go deeper in the tournament, it becomes more clay \u2018courty,\u2019 hard \u2018courty,\u2019 with a bit of grass on it. It\u2019s easier to move. The ball bounces a bit higher; it becomes more what we\u2019re used to. I think the early rounds are key for most of the top guys. I think we\u2019re talking about the first two rounds in particular.&amp;nbsp;\u201C\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Added Novak Djokovic: \u201CIt\u2019s very tricky for top players. Still you don\u2019t feel comfortable. The players you are playing against who are lower ranked, they have played a tournament or two before coming in so they have more matches. They have nothing to lose.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This year, Nadal opens against Martin Klizan on Tuesday, with a rematch against Lukas Rosol possible in the second round. \u201CIf you are able to win a few matches, you have the feeling you are in the tournament and everything becomes a little bit more logical,\u201D Nadal said.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For now Nadal is focused on putting his recent losing streak on grass behind him. He flew home to Mallorca, Spain after Halle and spent the time resting his back, which was put under stress during the French Open. Since arriving to London he says he\u2019s been putting more hours than usual on the practice court and he\u2019s pleased with how his body has responded.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThe sport in general is about victories, [it's] not about losses,\u201D Nadal&amp;nbsp;said. \u201CThat\u2019s my feeling. In the end, everybody remembers the winner. Everybody remembers the victories and nobody remembers the losses. So it doesn\u2019t matter if you play so badly for two months and you lose eight first rounds in a row and then you arrive to Wimbledon and you win Wimbledon. Nobody will remember about that two months that you played bad. Everybody will remember about your victory in Wimbledon. That\u2019s sport. The winner takes it all.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/tennis/2014/06/23/rafael-nadal-wimbledon-dangerous-grand-slam>