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Duba: Germany's Rainer Schuettler is cherishing his memorable semifinal at Wimbledon against the world's second best player last week.
Playing eventual winner Rafael Nadal was an experience, and Schuettler does not want to forget it.
The 32-year-old German, who came and spent a couple of days in Dubai immediately after a glorious march to the last four stage at Wimbledon last week, was all praise for Nadal.
"Rafa is an amazing player. He has improved so much during the last few years," Schuettler told Gulf News during his stay here earlier this week.
One of the strongest points in the Spaniard's game, according to Schuettler, is his desire to work hard and keep on improving.
"He keeps working hard on his game to get better and better. His strokes are so heavy and he plays every stroke with so much spin and power," he said of his semifinal opponent.
Schuettler was in amazing form last week before his fall to Nadal in the semifinals at Wimbledon.
On his way, he beat American James Blake in an engrossing five sets while also securing an equally tough five-set victory against Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the quarterfinals.
However, Nadal proved too much for the German in the last four.
"If your strokes are too short or if you give him some time he makes you run from side to side and you have no chance to get out of the rally," Schuettler said.
'Best chance'
Last week, the 32-year-old became the third-lowest ranked player at No 94, to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon in this decade.
Schuettler had his chances against the Spaniard, especially serving at 5-4 in the second set.
"My best chance to take a set off him was in the second, but I didn't win my service game," Schuettler said.
Despite this, the German sought to take the positives, not only from that match, but from his exploits in England during the last fortnight in the world's most famous tennis tournament.
Coming to Wimbledon, Schuettler's best finsihes were second round appearances at the Qatar Open, where he lost to Andy Murray, and at the Australian Open, where he went down to Gilles Simon.
In the tournaments that followed, he did not make it past the first round at the Zagreb Indoors, Dubai Open and the ATP Masters Series in the US.
He then lost to Blake in the opening round at the French Open. But now things are looking different for the German as he hopes for a much better season ahead.
"For me the most important thing is that I am able to compete with the best players in the world again. And that's very encouraging and satisfying for me for the rest of the season," Schuettler said.
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