Nadal has a day to switch from clay

By Bill Scott Jun 11, 2007, 4:01 GMT

Paris - Eager Rafael Nadal is ready to make the switch from clay to hardcourt after his historic third title at Roland Garros at the weekend through a second straight finals win over Roger Federer.

The Spaniard will take a day to travel before starting his campaign on the grass, where he produced a surprise Wimbledon final against Federer a year ago.

Leaving Paris after tying Bjorn Borg's record on three straight wins was not easy for Nadal, who cherishes the memory of another all-conquering clay campaign.

'Roland Garros is the tournament that I've played with the greatest happiness and joy in all my life,' said the 21-year-old. 'Now I'm going to play on grass, and this is going to be a difficult tournament (Queen's club London).

'I don't know what the draw is by the way. I'll have to have a look'

Nadal will not be far out of his element at the west London club, touted as the prime tune-up for Wimbledon which starts June 25.

'I have very little time ahead of me. I'll get there Monday and then I'll do what my body allows in terms of practice. I'll try and do something that will be useful for Wimbledon.'

Nadal admitted that claiming a Paris hat-trick was surreal as he beat Federer in four dynamic sets lasting just over three hours.

'For me, to have three Grand Slams is a dream. When I started the season in Australia, I was not playing very well. I could never have imagined imagine something like this.

'I'm very, very happy about my game and not only my performance on clay, but on hard, too, before the clay season.

'You have this pressure, this dream about winning.'

Nadal could see that Federer was also under pressure as he tried to become only the sixth man in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

For the second straight year, he was denied by Nadal.

'We all feel these different pressures for different kind of reasons.'