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Nadal Still Upbeat for Rest of the Year

(Reuters) - Rafa Nadal believes he can recover from his crushing French Open quarter-final defeat by Novak Djokovic and return even stronger.

The Spaniard, who turned 29 on Wednesday when he was beaten 7-5 6-3 6-1 by world number one Djokovic, only his second defeat in 11 years at Roland Garros, said he was no longer suffering from the physical problems that affected him last year.

"I hope I'll be able to continue on the tour, and before the end of the year I'd like to be even fitter and to work on the parts of my game that I have to work on," Nadal said.