The Spaniard, who beat Novak Djokovic to continue his Roland
Garros domination on Sunday, has been practicing hard on the Halle
lawns since arriving on Monday and is eager to get matches under his
belt ahead of Wimbledon.
"Each training session and each match on grass is very, very
important for me," Nadal told the tournament website on Wednesday.
"It's such a tough transition. You've got to give it all you've got
to get into an ideal shape for the matches."
Nadal suffered early losses at Wimbledon on his last two visits, to
Lukas Rosol in 2012 and Steve Darcis last year and is leaving
nothing to chance.
"In 2012, I had physical problems and last year I wasn't at full
strength," the Mallorcan said. "Now I've got to and I want to show
good form and get some self-confidence."
Dreadlocked Brown proved by reaching the Wimbledon third round last
year that he is a force on grass.
"You never know what to expect with him. He plays with a lot of
inspiration, very aggressively," said Nadal, who will be playing the
29-year-old for the first time.
Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic's Wimbledon preparations suffered
a glitch with a shock defeat by lowly-ranked Peter Gojowczyk on
Wednesday.
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After a quarter-final run at the French Open, third seed Raonic
struggled to find his grasscourt feet, losing 6-4 6-4 to the German
ranked 120th in the world.
Raonic banged down eight aces but Gojowczyk thrived on the firepower
heading his way, breaking once in each set to move into the
quarter-finals.
"I just love it when somebody serves hard and fast because it serves
my return, which actually is my best shot," the 24-year-old
Gojowczyk told the ATP's website.
Japan's Kei Nishikori, the world No.12, came through a tough
encounter with Frenchman Gael Monfils, winning 6-1 3-6 6-3.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
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