Nadal Shows Grass-Court Intent; Commits to Stella Artois
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© Getty ImagesNadal: Will play at Queen's for the
next two years.
French Open champion Rafael Nadal has signalled his intention to master the art of grass court tennis by committing to play at the Stella Artois Championships for the next two years.
Nadal, the winner of 10 titles already this year, eight of which were won on clay, has never previously entered the Stella Artois Championships, which will be played next year at the Queen's Club between the 12 and 18th of June.
Despite the enormous success enjoyed by the 19-year-old Mallorcan in 2005, he lost at the second round stage at Wimbledon, and now plans to use the Stella Artois to test himself against many of the world's best grass-court exponents.
Tournament Director Ian Wight was delighted to secure Nadal's participation.
"I'm thrilled that Rafael has committed himself to The Stella Artois for the next two years," said Wight.
"His desire to be a winner on every surface makes him one of the most exciting players of this and future generations."
Jim Courier, a two-time French Open champion who also reached the Wimbledon final, believes Nadal has got what it takes to be successful on the surface.
"His game may not be obviously adaptable to grass, but his attitude is," said Courier.
"He is firmly committed to it, and as the grass courts have firmed up it's given the groundstrokers an ability to compete."
Nadal, currently No.2 in the rankings, burst onto the world tennis scene as a 15-year-old in 2002 by reaching the second round at his home event in Mallorca.
A year later he registered wins over former French Open champions Albert Costa and Carlos Moya, and showed glimpses of grass court pedigree by reaching the Wimbledon third round and beating former semi-finalist Mario Ancic en-route.
Injury saw him miss three months of the 2004 season, including the French Open and Wimbledon, but he won his first career-title in Sopot, Poland in August of that year.
He came-of-age in 2005, snaring the French Open title and other big tournament-wins in Hamburg, Rome and Monte Carlo, as well as hard-court victories in Montreal and Beijing.