My time will come, says beaten Nadal

LONDON: Rafael Nadal is convinced his time will come at Wimbledon after his unexpected run to this year's final.

The claycourt specialist matched defending champion Roger Federer for two sets of his 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 defeat on Sunday.

Nadal has transformed himself from a grasscourt novice to title contender in the last four weeks and was the only man to take a set off four-times champion Federer this year.

"It was important for me to play well after the first set for my future belief that I can win here," said the double French Open champion.

"It's important for me to believe I can beat Roger on this surface. After the first set I played good tennis and he didn't beat me easily after that, did he? I saw in the match when I was playing my best tennis, when I was playing well, that the match was very close. That's nice for me. We will see. I want to improve, I'm only 20-years-old and he is 24."

Nadal admitted Federer's use of skidding slice shots had troubled him greatly on Sunday, especially in the one-sided first set.

"He plays differently to the other players," the Mallorcan said. "He plays with more slice and he varies his game a lot. I couldn't work out my strategy because he was playing different with his slice and changed the rhythm."