Nadal eager to prove grasscourt credentials

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) Two weeks after being crowned claycourt king at the French Open for the second year running, Rafael Nadal will face the more daunting task of becoming the first Spanish man since 1966 to lift the Wimbledon trophy.

It has been 40 years since Manuel Santana had his name engraved on to the famed Challenge Cup. None of his countrymen have come close to emulating the feat even though many have reigned supreme across the Channel in France.

Over the past 14 years, Spaniards have won seven Roland Garros titles but many have never had the desire to test their skills on the manicured lawns of the All England Club.

While players such as Albert Costa and Sergi Bruguera opted to put their feet up in the Iberian sunshine during the grasscourt season, Nadal has repeatedly bucked the trend.

So keen was the Mallorcan with bulging biceps, cut-off pirate pants and flowing dark hair to hone his craft that he was practising on grass barely 24 hours after his Paris triumph.

''I am hungry to play on grass,'' Nadal said during last week's Stella Artois Championships.

''A Spanish player winning the French Open is not unusual but to win Wimbledon would be unbelievable.

''This is the grand slam I want to win most because it is so special. Only one Spanish player has won and I want to improve on that.'' For a man undefeated on clay for a record 60 consecutive matches, Nadal has no qualms about putting his reputation on the line on the slicker surface.

The 20-year-old's attitude has won him an army of admirers.

''I respect how much he's valued Wimbledon and what he's said about it,'' said Andre Agassi, who famously boycotted the home of grasscourt tennis during the early stages of his career.

''It shows you the competitor's heart he has. Any time you got a ticker like that, you got to leave room for some great things.'' After winning only one match on grass in 2005, Nadal realised his shortcomings and chose to enter both singles and doubles at this year's Stella Artois Championships .

In an riveting quarter-final against Lleyton Hewitt, Nadal showed off the strides he has made on the green lawns by dominating the first set. Charging wildly about the court, he took the Australian by surprise with his willingness to approach the net.

PLANET NADAL Although a shoulder injury abruptly ended his challenge, the isplay proves that Nadal will be no pushover when the season's third grand slam begins on Monday.

''When you compete as well as he does, it's very dangerous to write him off on any type of surface,'' warned four-times Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman.

It has been 26 years since a winner of the French Open took the Wimbledon title in the same year -- when Sweden's Bjorn Borg successfully made the switch from clay to grass.

Since then Agassi is the only man to have captured both majors, albeit seven years apart.

But as one Spanish paper declared, Nadal has all the traits to succeed as ''he comes from Planet Nadal where babies don't play with dolls but rackets, muscle grows before bone, courage is learnt before speech and the heart beats faster''.

He proved that this week when he declared himself fit just days after quitting against Hewitt and will be determined to progress beyond the third round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career.

Despite his eagerness to prove his worth on grass, Nadal was under no illusion about his ability to replicate his claycourt feats on the sport's fastest surface.

''My expectation is to improve but I'm not going win 60 consecutive matches on grass,'' he smiled.

REUTERS VJ BST0740