Rafael Nadal has vowed he will put in more hard work in a bid to get his game back to the level where he can win more tournaments. The 29-year-old Spaniard endured another frustrating defeat late Saturday when he lost a marathon semi-final in the ATP Rio de Janeiro Open to 45th-ranked Pablo Cuevas 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.
It was just the second time since 2005 that Nadal has lost to a player ranked outside the world top 30 on clay
That loss came just a week after he lost in the semi-final of the Argentina Open in three sets to Austria's Dominic Thiem, also on clay. Nadal had travelled to South America following his first round loss at the Australian Open in a bid to reverse, on his favourite claycourt surface, the form loss that has seen his world ranking slump.