Playing Nadal makes me improve, says Federer

MONTE CARLO: Roger Federer still enjoys playing Rafael Nadal even though he has now lost his five meetings against the Spaniard on clay.   

The world number one believes he improves on the slow surface every time he takes on the double French Open champion, who beat him 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters Series on Sunday.   

"It's good for me to play against him. He sometimes makes me improve my backhand. I think that problem is solved for me," Federer said.     

"Today I started to miss on the forehand but, look, again, it can happen over a few minutes that you're going to have a downfall on one of your shots.   

"Again, you should try to avoid it, and that's going to make you practice and make you a better player. I enjoy playing against him and I think the same for him.     
 
"We can improve playing against each other," added Federer, who made 19 unforced errors on his forehand.   

"Mistakes, few too many, I guess. I'm not happy about the performance of my forehand. Rarely it happens to me, because it's my best shot in the game. I guess it's a bit different against Rafael.   

"You've got to keep on pushing and I just missed a few too many to go a break down in the first set."   

Federer was defeated by Nadal in last year's final in the principality before being beaten at the Rome Masters Series. The Swiss then handed Nadal his second French Open crown in Paris.   

However, Federer had few regrets about Sunday's final.   

"I should have used the chances when I had them early on," he said.

"Unfortunately it turned around with a few mistakes. But I feel this match gave me some information.   

"I think I'm absolutely in the mix with him on clay, which is how I wanted to feel. You know, it's always disappointing to lose but I feel like I didn't play well and still it was close. That's a good thing."