Nicolas Almagro may be known as the Temperamental Talent on court, but off it he certainly didn’t show any signs of it at all.
Almagro also explained that his fiery temper on court is part of his playing style which has helped him improved over the years.
“It’s part of my mentality. When I step on court I just want to win although recently I’ve learned to focus solely on the game.”
Almagro is the top seed following Czech Tomas Berdych’s withdrawal and he is certainly well poised to win in his first appearance here.
Almagro has won three tournaments this season although uncharacteristic performances saw him crash out in the first round of the French and US Opens.
And the hard-serving Almagro has taken a more precautionary approach towards the Malaysian Open.
“I’ve played some good tennis this year especially early on but I could have done much better. At times I made just too many mistakes like during the French Open.
“The competition here is very strong. Every player has a chance to win and I’m just hoping to play my best tennis and win the tournament,” said Almagro who named Serbia’s Viktor Troicki as his strongest opponent.
Troicki is the second seed while another Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, is the third seed.
Almagro receives a bye in the first round and will take on the winner of the match between Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin and Spaniard Albert Ramos in the second round.
The Spaniard, the world number 11, arrived yesterday for the Malaysian Open tennis championship and he was certainly in good spirits as he joked with reporters during a press conference at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
“I just landed and I haven’t tried the courts yet. The only thing I’ve tried was the bed but it was only for 20 minutes and it is definitely not enough,” joked the 26-year-old Murcia native - Kng Zheng Guan - Star
