Fernando lost his third round match in Madrid against Jurgen Melzer, 5-7, 3-6. It was their third meeting this year (after Miami and Barcelona) and in both previous matches, Fernando lost the first set, forced a tiebreak and won the third , but this time, Melzer was in good form and Fernando, who had several chances to take the first set, was unable to convert and made some costly errors. In addition, he was dealing with a swollen ankle.

“Obviously I didn’t feel very well or very comfortable at any point in the match; even when I was ahead in the first set. I think he deserved to win more than I did; he played better than I did. Playing in my own city and not playing well is really disappointing. Losing at home and at a Masters 1000 hurts more than it did to lose in the final in Kuala Lumpur. Right now I’m pretty disappointed.”

Fernando said that his ankle was injured in his opening match against Karlovic, which was part of the reason he chose not to play doubles. “Today I played with the right ankle bandaged, and in the first set I got a blister on the tendon by the bandage, but the ankle was not the reason for the defeat.”

He said his injury is not serious, and that “if everything goes well, I will go to Nice to pick up some pace ahead of Paris. It is an area that is difficult to see because it is between the tendons of the right ankle. It is a nuisance I would rather not have, but if the doctors say its nothing serious, I will be able to go into Paris positively and believe that I can reach one hundred percent there.”

Fernando advanced to the third round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open with a 7-6⁵, 6-3 win over Ivo Karlovic, breaking a 3-match losing streak against the tall Croat. Fernando saved both break points he faced in the first set and won the tiebreak, then eased into the second set comfortably, closing it out in just under an hour and 40 minutes.

“In the first set there were some games where I had good opportunities. But almost every time I had chances to win one, or to break him, he managed to hit good first serves that made things more difficult. But I knew the match would be that way, and I was mentally prepared for it. Of course the tie-break in the first set boosted my confidence and allowed me to play more calmly in the second set, and in the end to break him.

“The important thing is that I managed to get past him, and I’m happy to move on to the next round. It’s always special to play in Madrid, in my city and with all the people. I love playing in Spain, but being from Madrid it’s even better to be here and have all the people behind me.”

Fernando plays Jurgen Melzer for a spot in the quarterfinals and a chance to defend last year’s points. Also, he and Feli withdrew from their doubles match due to low back pain for Feli, hopefully just a precautionary step.

Fernando is looking forward to continuing his winning ways this week in his hometown tournament of Madrid, hoping to keep improving his game, both physically and mentally.

“It’s the best start to a season of my career,” says the 26-year-old, who has claimed titles in San Jose and Barcelona this season, as well as reaching the finals in Monte Carlo and the semifinals in Rome. “I am very happy with what has been happening in these past few weeks and I hope I will continue to achieve these kind of results.

“I know that this will not always be possible, but I will do my best to be able to stay where I am for six weeks or longer and if I have the same consistency, then I will finish in my best position ever.”

Currently ranked No. 9 in the world, Fernando reached the quarterfinals in Madrid in 2009. having grown up in Madrid, he is used to playing in the high altitude and, with wins over the likes of world No. 2 Novak Djokovic and world No. 8 Andy Roddick under his belt this season, is considered a genuine contender to claim his hometown title.

“I’m more accustomed than most of them to the conditions here, because I’ve trained here and I’ve lived her all my life. In these tournaments, every match is very hard. I will start against Karlovic, who does not give you much rhythm with his serve. You have to be very focused throughout the match with his serve, because he does not give you many chances and you can not make mistakes.

“Every single match is always tough. I believe that I am playing at a good level. I have confidence, I want to take it once match at a time, but that does not mean that I am not thrilled and willing to win the tournament. With Rafa in the draw, it will be difficult, but when you lose against a player like Rafa, it’s normal. He is one of the best players in history. The strange thing is to beat him.

“I hope that one day in the future, maybe this week if we meet in the semifinals, I can beat him. No one is unbeatable, so I will try every time I play against him.”

Fernando kicks off the Madrid Masters this week against Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.

Click below to see Fernando’s section of the singles draw for the upcoming Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open Masters tournament:

Fernando has a bye in the first round of Monte Carlo and will face either Ivo Karlovic or Evgeny Korolev in the second. He has a potential third round meet-up with Tomas Berdych (their fourth meeting this year and second on clay) or David Nalbandian, a quarterfinal meeting with Thomaz Belluci or Robin Soderling and a semifinal meeting with Rafael Nadal.

In doubles, he and Feliciano take on Philipp Petzschner and Philipp Kohlschreiber. If they advance to the next round, they’ll face the Bryan brothers.

Adidas has launched a new campaign to encourage Fernando to win his hometown tournament next week at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. The campaign uses the slogan ‘seize of the mind, to take control of the court,’ the words of Fernando’s fitness trainer Gil Reyes.

In Spanish:

A todos los que creíais conocer a Fernando, a todos los que le habíais alabado o criticado, a todos, siento deciros que el Fernando que conocíais ya no está entre nosotros.

Olvidaos de ese tenista al que pensar en pequeño le hizo pequeño, olvidaos de ese tímido drive, de esa inseguridad al restar, de como se le encogía el brazo, de por qué se venia abajo, ya no importan las respuestas. Excusas. Vivir en su recuerdo no nos hace ningún bien, hacedme caso, se de lo que hablo.

Si aprendemos todos de sus errores y de sus derrotas, estaremos haciendo el tenis español aun mas grande.

Y a ti Fernando, que te has encontrado con el nuevo Verdasco, vas a cambiar tu mundo porque ya nunca vas a sentir que no puedes. Te encontraste y eso es maravilloso. Enseñale a tu país de lo que eres capaz. Y recuerda que tu mente es tu mejor golpe, así es que poco a poco adueñate de todo.

Es tu ciudad, es tu cancha, es tu torneo.

___
and a loose translation into English:

To all who thought you knew Fernando, to all who praised or criticized him, to all of you, I’m sorry to say that the Fernando you knew is no longer among us.

Forget the tennis that made him think small, forget that shy drive, that insecurity showing, how his arm flinched, why he went to pieces. The answers don’t matter anymore. Excuses. Living in the past does not do us any good, trust me, I know what I’m talking about.

If we all learn from his mistakes and his defeats, we’ll make Spanish tennis even greater.

And you Fernando, you have found the new Verdasco, you are going to change your world because you’ll never feel again that you can’t. You found yourself and that is wonderful. Show your country what you are capable of. And remember that your mind is your best weapon, so take control of the court.

It’s your city, it’s your court, it’s your tournament.

—
Thanks to nereis on twitter for the translation :)

Fernando Verdasco attended the Forum Ferrándiz AS, where he said he hoped to be among the top five ranked players before year end and that he believed Rafael Nadal would again regain his number one ranking.

“It’s very difficult to finish in the top five, but I look and I see that it is possible. You have to have the results I’ve had these three weeks throughout the year. I will fight with everything I have to get it.”

“The last three weeks have given me great confidence, I have improved my self-esteem and I hope to be playing in the final in Roland Garros. If I have Nadal in my side of the draw, of course it will be very difficult. But with Federer, Djokovic or Murray, I think I have the potential to reach the final.”

Read more

“Until the 5-1 things were going okay for me and also, he wasn’t playing his best and made some mistakes. Later, perhaps he saw that I was tired – not from the 5-1 but ever since I got up this morning. He started to play better and became more solid on the court, and what happened, happened. The match yesterday was long and very physical against Novak. I was feeling good mentally but my body wasn’t feeling the same as before and so I was slower and had less power. Against a player like David, yes, I was at 5-1 but I was making some mistakes and I wasn’t playing a good game. After, he became solid and started moving the ball around the court and it was very hard for me and I was missing a lot of balls. It’s hard to play like this when your legs don’t do what you want them to do and against a player like this, your chances are very small.”

“I think that I had a hard but a very good three weeks. Of course the match yesterday was very hard and all the power that I had, I lost yesterday and today I felt that. Today I wasn’t feeling great but I have played perhaps the best three weeks on clay in my life and I need to be positive and now of course, I need to recover for a few days and then start practising again for Madrid. I hope to have the same weeks that I had both here and in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. You know, I got to the quarter-finals last year and now the semi-finals here and so I just want to recover first and then play and practise a lot to be perfect for Madrid and then Roland Garros.”

“If you win all of the matches in two sets, then you can play three weeks in a row. If you have matches in three sets or matches that last for a three or three-and-a-half hours with a lot of pressure and high intensity, then it is much more difficult. If you have matches like the one I played yesterday with Novak, then it is difficult and you cannot resist two weeks winning or getting to the final every week. If you win all of the matches that you play like Rafa has been doing for many years and if he has decided not to do it this year, then he has his reasons. It always depends on the matches you play.”

David Ferrer got a little revenge over Fernando in Rome today, defeating him 7-5, 6-3. Fernando was up 5-1 and serving for the set, but it seems the fatigue of playing so much tennis over the past couple weeks finally seemed to catch up with him.

Still, Fernando can take away some positives from these past couple weeks. He reached his first ever Masters series semifinal, then final in Monte Carlo, won a 500 series title, and then reached his second consecutive Masters semifinal here in Rome. He’ll be able to take this coming week off to rest and prepare for Madrid, and depending on whether or not he drops Nice from his schedule, he should have enough time to rest to get ready for Roland Garros. Overall, he’s had an excellent start to his clay season, and despite the hard loss today, he should be full of confidence going in to Madrid and Paris! Vamos!

In his presser, Fernando also talked about the influence Andre Agassi is having on him:

“He was my idol, so it’s great to have your idol telling you all the things he thinks you should do and shouldn’t do, giving you some advice from all the things he did and maybe he did wrong,” Verdasco told Reuters.

“He’s helping me be a better player. Having someone like Agassi, who was my idol when I was a kid, telling you things is so special.

“Sometimes when I’m in Las Vegas (to see Cahill and Reyes) he comes to say hi and we speak, but he’s not in my team. He’s just helping me and giving me advice.

“He’s doing his part, like Darren, like Gil Reyes, like my dad and my fitness trainer in Madrid. He’s a person with all the experience of his long career.”