Agencies
Madrid, May 6
Roger Federer has piled the pressure on Rafael Nadal by claiming that the Spaniard is the odds-on favourite to win the Madrid Masters.
The four-time Madrid champion has endured a recent run of poor form, having won just one ATP title this year in Buenos Aires where the highest-ranked opponent he faced was world No 59 Federico Delbonis.
Nadal, who also owns eight Monte Carlo and eight Barcelona Open trophies, is now preparing to play in front of his home fans on the back of his worst run of results.
Nadal was buoyed by a solid performance at the Monte Carlo Masters in early April where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and was then promptly shunted out of the Barcelona Open in the third round by Italian Fabio Fognini.
The new racquet he used in the last two tournaments has been binned in favour of the previous model.
Federer, a champion in the Spanish capital three years ago, is wary of his old foe and with world No 1 Djokovic opting to take a rest this week, the 17-time Grand Slam champion is backing Nadal to come back strong on his favourite surface."My focus this week will be on my own game rather than the field or Novak not being here," Federer told Sky Sports.
"I still believe Rafa is the favourite at this event even though he may not be playing his absolute best tennis in recent times, but it is Spain, it is Madrid, where he has won in the past. Now that Novak is not here I think Rafa is the favourite."
British No 1 Andy Murray is also backing reigning champion Nadal to return to his best form, saying: "He missed a lot of tennis last year and I know when I missed three, four months with my back, it's not like you just come back after four months feeling great straight away. It does take time and along the way when you're not playing as well as you like, you take a few tough losses. Ones that maybe you were not expecting and that hurts your confidence.”
"It might take some people a month or two to get it back while it takes a bit longer for others. I'm sure he'll turn it around soon because he's a great player with a great attitude and mindset. I'm sure he'll come back."
